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SDSU keeps rolling with win over Utah

Jan 9, 2011 - 4:09 AM Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - D.J. Gay scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half, and No. 6 San Diego State stretched the nation's second-longest winning streak to 17 games, topping the Utah Runnin' Utes, 71-62.

Kawhi Leonard led the Aztecs (17-0, 2-0 MWC) with 20 points. Malcolm Thomas notched a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds for San Diego State, which has won three straight in this rivalry.

Josh Watkins finished with a game-high 24 points for Utah (7-9, 0-2), which has dropped six straight. Will Clyburn finished with 17 points to go along with 10 rebounds while J.J. O'Brien grabbed 10 boards in the loss.

Clyburn led the Utes with 14 points in the first half, as Utah took a 34-33 lead into the intermission.

The Aztecs, who committed 10 turnovers in the first half, played a nearly perfect final 20 minutes committing one turnover and outscoring Utah 38-28.

"We got frustrated in the first half with ourselves, the officials and turnovers," SDSU coach Steve Fisher said. "You can't do that. You can't play that way. We had a lot of emotions showing and we talked about that at halftime."

SDSU took the lead on a Thomas layup at 18:39. After he added a free throw 17 seconds later, Utah regained its advantage on a Watkins three just under the 18-minute mark. Leonard responded with a jumper at the far end to put the Aztecs up, 40-39, and they would never trail down the stretch.

The Aztecs' lead was one, 57-56, after an O'Brien layup at 8:44. However, a Leonard layup less than a minute later started a 10-0 SDSU run -- that included eight points from Gay -- to put the Aztecs up 67-56 with under six minutes remaining.

"We got stung in a run and didn't react very well," Utah coach Jim Boylen said. "After we got stung in the run, we stopped sharing it and moving it and you saw what happened in the game, the game separated."

Utah's Chris Kupets ended the run with a jumper, but Thomas responded with a driving layup and three-point conversion to put SDSU up by 12.

Josh Watkins put the game at 70-60 with a layup at 2:31, but after Gay made one of two from the line inside 1 1/2 minutes the Aztecs' lead was back to 11.

James Rahon missed a chance to widen the margin on a three with 43 ticks remaining, and Gay committed the only SDSU turnover of the second half on a Shawn Glover steal inside the final half minute.

Utah sent Watkins to the line with 21 seconds remaining, he made both, to account for the final margin.

Game Notes

Duke holds the nation's longest winning streak at 24 games...Utah has lost seven of its last eight...Despite the loss the Utes hold a 53-16 all-time lead in this series...Utah shot 66.7 percent from the free throw line, 44.4 percent for SDSU...Next up for the Utes is a visit from No. 15 BYU on Tuesday. SDSU will host No. 25 UNLV Wednesday.