No. 19 San Diego State 71, Colorado State 61: Xavier Thames had 23 points and five steals as the visiting Aztecs defeated the Rams in the Mountain West opener for both squads.

Winston Shepard added 17 points and Josh Davis grabbed 15 rebounds as San Diego State (11-1) stretched its winning streak to 10 games. The 11-1 start ties for the second-best season-opening streak in school history.

Daniel Bejarano had 22 points and eight rebounds and J.J. Avila added 15 points for Colorado State (9-5). Jon Octeus contributed 10 points for the Rams, who committed 14 turnovers.

Colorado State trailed by six midway through the second half, but Thames scored eight straight San Diego State points to get the advantage up to 60-49 with about 7 1/2 minutes to play. The closest the Rams got the rest of the way was seven.

The Aztecs shot 50 percent from the field and forced nine turnovers en route to a 36-27 halftime lead. The lead reached 50-39 on Skylar Spencer’s putback with just over 13 1/2 minutes remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Davis has reached double digits on the boards in each of his last six outings and has done so seven times overall. … Rams G Dwight Smith left with an apparent knee injury with 3:20 remaining. … Spencer had four of San Diego State’s six blocked shots and Davis had three of the Aztecs' 10 steals.