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No. 6 San Diego State gets past UNLV

Jan 13, 2011 - 7:02 AM San Diego, CA (Sports Network) - Kawhi Leonard and Malcolm Thomas each posted double-doubles to help No. 6 San Diego State remain unblemished as they defeated UNLV, 55-49, at Viejas Arena.

Leonard had 15 points and 17 rebounds, while Thomas netted 14 points and grabbed 16 boards for San Diego State (18-0, 3-0 MWC). Billy White added 10 points for the victors.

"We played UNLV in a championship-like atmosphere tonight," Leonard said. "We played real hard and we got a lot of energy from the crowd. The second we stepped on the floor and saw everyone waving the white towels, we knew it was on."

The Aztecs' 18th win of the season was also head coach Steve Fisher's 400th career win.

Anthony Marshall came off the bench to provide 11 points for the Runnin' Rebels (13-4, 1-2), who have lost two of their last three contests. Oscar Bellfield finished with 10 points in the defeat.

The Aztecs went on a 14-4 run in the second half to take a 44-32 lead with just under 12 minutes left to play in the game. The run was capped off by James Rahon's three pointer.

A few minutes later it was back to a five-point game at 48-43 when Chace Stanback made a long jumper.

The game remained close as the Aztecs couldn't pull away for good as they just made three of their final five free throw attempts. Two of those makes came after Brice Massamba's layup with 1:06 left to play which made up for the final score.

"There was a moment there that I thought our guys responded exactly like you'd want," UNLV head coach Lon Kruger said. "Then we had it back down to four, back to five, and had some good looks, but we couldn't take the next step."

Down 6-2 early in the game, Thomas made a free throw and then White had a jam and a layup to put the Aztecs up 7-6 just four minutes into the game.

The first half remained tight as Marshall's dunk tied the game at 20 with five minutes left. Carlos Lopez's jumper under a minute to play in the opening half cut San Diego State's margin to 28-26 at the half.

Game Notes

The game was a rematch of the 2010 Mountain West Conference Championship, which SDSU won...The Rebels were putrid from three-point range, making just one of their 18 attempts...Stanback ended with eight points and nine rebounds.