San Diego State 60, Utah State 45

[February 19, 2014]  SAN DIEGO — No. 7 San Diego State 60, Utah State 45: Freshman forward Matt Shrigley scored a career-high 15 points as the Mountain West-leading Aztecs routed the visiting Aggies.

Josh Davis finished with 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds and Skylar Spencer added 10 points and four blocks for San Diego State (23-2, 12-1). The Aztecs increased their conference lead to 1 1/2 games over second-place New Mexico (19-5, 10-2), which plays at UNLV on Wednesday night.

Jarred Shaw and Spencer Butterfield each scored 10 points to lead Utah State (15-11, 5-9), which fell to 1-6 in Mountain West road games. The Aggies, who came into the contest ranked second in the Mountain West shooting 46.6 percent from the floor, connected on just 17-of-50 shots.

Unlike the first meeting between the two schools on Jan. 25 at Utah State that saw the Aztecs rally for a 74-69 overtime win, San Diego State took control early. Shrigley came off the bench to spark a 15-2 run with a trio of 3-pointers over a two-minute span to put the Aztecs up 19-7 after nine minutes, and San Diego State led by as many as 18 points en route to a 35-22 halftime lead.

Utah State managed just three field goals in the first 13 minutes of the second half as the Aztecs built a 49-31 advantage. A jumper by Davis gave San Diego State its largest lead at 60-35 before the Aggies ended the game with a 10-0 run against the Aztec reserves.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Utah State's 22 first-half points were a season low. ... San Diego State improved to 113-0 in their last 113 games when leading with five minutes to play. ... Utah State, which came into the game leading the Mountain West in 3-point field goal shooting percentage (41.4), finished 5-of-13 beyond the arc.

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