SAN DIEGO (AP) – Devin Watson scored 23 points and Jalen McDaniels had 16, as San Diego State defeated Utah State 68-63 Saturday night at Viejas Arena to open the second half of Mountain West play.
The Aztecs (14-9, 6-4) overcame a 35-point effort from Utah State's Sam Merrill to improve to 11-0 against the Aggies since they joined the conference in 2013-14.
Merrill finished two shy of his career-high before fouling out for the Aggies (18-6, 8-3), who came into the game in sole possession of second place.
Nathan Mensah had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Matt Mitchell also scored 10 for SDSU.
The Aztecs squandered a 13-point lead they built in the first half and nearly let a 52-42 second-half advantage slip away; however, Watson made a bank shot, while McDaniels hit a 3-pointer and converted an old-fashioned 3-point play with 4:51 left for a 61-52 lead.
Merrill hit a 3-pointer with 2:10 left to narrow the gap to 63-58 but then had a shot blocked by Mensah.
Merrill fouled out with 49 seconds to go when he was called for charging.
Both teams went hot and cold.
Watson had eight points during a 20-0 run midway through the first half that carried SDSU from a 10-point deficit to a 31-18 lead. He had a 3-pointer and a 3-point play, and also fed Mensah for an alley-oop slam dunk. McDaniels finished the run with a 3-pointer for a 13-point lead with 5:35 to go before halftime.
Utah State snapped a five-minute scoring drought with Merrill scoring all the points in a 9-0 run to close to 31-27. He had a layup, two free throws, a jumper and a 3-pointer.
SDSU scored only two more points the rest of the half and led 33-29.
The Aggies then scored the first five points of the second half to take a 34-33 lead.
BIG PICTURE
Utah State: Trails 11-3 in the series.
San Diego State: McDaniels fell three rebounds shy of a double-double. He has now missed out on a double-double in three straight games after recording six straight double-doubles.
UP NEXT
Utah State hosts Wyoming on Wednesday night.
San Diego State is at Colorado State on Tuesday night.