LARAMIE - No fingers were involved, but the words used can't be repeated here.

Utah coach Jim Boylen was less than pleased when the Wyoming Cowboys finished off a 72-64 win at the Arena-Auditorium on Saturday with an alley-oop jam as time expired.

"We wouldn't have done that," Boylen said afterwards. "We don't do that. We pull the ball out and respect our opponent."

Those words were much kinder than the ones he used when he met UW coach Heath Schroyer for the traditional post-game handshake.

Boylen didn't have any comment on that conversation, but the obscenities could be heard loud and clear from 25 feet away.

Schroyer didn't think the play was malicious and wasn't overly-concerned with the suddenly-combustible conversation.

"It was kind of an instinct play, I believe; it was just one of those things," Schroyer said. "I have a lot of respect for Jim."

With under 10 seconds left, the Utes looked to foul Brad Jones, but didn't get a whistle.

Jones passed ahead to Brandon Ewing, who dribbled through traffic from half court to the corner on the offensive end as the seconds ticked away.

Ewing then saw Joseph Taylor streaking to the basket, and found him with a perfect alley-oop pass that Taylor finished easily.

"We were all yelling, 'No, pull it out, pull it out, pull it out' and Utah looked like they were chasing him and chasing guys," Schroyer said. "And I think it was an instinctive play with Brandon and Joe.

"I have all the respect in the world for the Utah program."

It was the second incident between the two schools since the start of this school year.

Utah led Wyoming 43-0 in a football game on Nov. 10 in Salt Lake City when Utes coach Kyle Whittingham called for an onside kick.

The Cowboys recovered the ball, but coach Joe Glenn responded with a middle finger that was caught by television cameras and received nationwide attention.

Saturday's situation probably won't create that much noise - at least that's what Schroyer hopes.

"I think that it's probably going to be a lot more brought up to it than what it really is," Schroyer said. "(Boylen and I) are competitive. Both of us are trying to build programs and change cultures and it's February in March. When you're in those situations, sometimes those things happen."

Contact sports reporter Eric Schmoldt at (307) 266-0578 or eric.schmoldt@trib.com.