Malcolm Thomas led the way with 18 points and nine rebounds as No. 6 San Diego State opened up Mountain West play with a 66-53 victory over Texas Christian on Wednesday.

Kawhi Leonard added 14 points and 11 boards, and Chase Tapley scored 12 for the Aztecs (16-0, 1-0 Mountain West).

San Diego State took a little while to get going in the first half, and fell behind 25-19 before James Rahon hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 10-1 run closing the period. Neither team could muster much from beyond the arc before the break, as the Horned Frogs were 1 of 10 and the Aztecs were 3 of 13.

San Diego State decided to move inside the arc at the beginning of the second half and ripped of a 20-5 run that included seven dunks or layups and a pair of three-point plays.

Garlon Green scored 13 points while J.R. Cadot had 12 rebounds for the Horned Frogs (9-7, 0-1).

The Aztecs made it into the Top 10 by sweeping through a relatively weak pre-conference slate, with their best wins coming at Gonzaga and at California.

The Mountain West provides two main challengers in No. 14 BYU and UNLV. After visiting Utah this weekend, San Diego State will return home for a showdown with UNLV on Jan. 12.