No. 23 San Diego State 60, Missouri State 44: Jamaal Franklin had his second straight double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds and the visiting Aztecs fended off a second-half comeback.
James Rahon and Chase Tapley drilled back-to-back 3-pointers as part of an 8-0 run for cold-shooting San Diego State (2-1) to restore the lead back to double digits after the Bears (1-1) had pulled within 41-37 with just under 7 1/2 minutes to play.
Xavier Thames added 11 points and five assists for the Aztecs, who misfired on 18 of their first 20 attempts from 3-point range before the long-range daggers from Rahon and Tapley squelched Missouri State's rally.
Anthony Downing scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half, including a jumper to cut the deficit to four with 7:21 to play, but the Bears went nearly five minutes without a field goal as San Diego State pulled away.
Missouri State started well and held a 16-10 edge with 8:29 to play in the opening half, but the Aztecs answered with spurts of nine straight points and eight in a row in a 19-4 run to take a 29-20 halftime lead in a game that was part of the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Franklin scored 15 of his points in the first half as the Aztecs improved to 22-5 in their last 27 road games. ... The Bears, who had only one field goal in the last eight minutes of the first half, shot 4-for-23 from behind the arc. ... The Aztecs finished 4-of-22 from long distance and are 9-of-59 on 3-point attempts in their three games.
San Diego St. | Missouri St. | |
Jamaal Franklin 22 | Scoring | Anthony Downing 16 |
Xavier Thames 5 | Assists | Marcus Marshall 3 |
Jamaal Franklin 12 | Rebounds | Drew Wilson 9 |
Jamaal Franklin 9 | Free Throws Made | Anthony Downing 5 |
Jamaal Franklin 3 | Steals | Keith Pickens 2 |
Jamaal Franklin 3 | Blocks | Gavin Thurman 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
San Diego St. | 60 | 32.2 | 4-22 | 18-26 | 8 | 43 | 9 | 9 | 17 |
Missouri St. | 44 | 28.1 | 4-23 | 8-16 | 8 | 32 | 2 | 4 | 15 |