No. 15 San Diego State 65, Fresno State 62: Jamaal Franklin had 20 points and 18 rebounds and the short-handed Aztecs survived an upset bid by the host Bulldogs in the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams.

San Diego State (13-2, 1-0 MWC) also got 16 points from James Rahon and 13 from Deshawn Stephens. The Aztecs have won 32 straight games against teams from California but had trouble putting the Bulldogs away. Fresno State led 33-26 at the half and opened up a 10-point lead with 13:17 to play.

The Bulldogs, making their Mountain West debut, squandered that advantage but took a 62-61 lead on a 3-pointer by Kevin Olekaibe with 2:59 remaining. Franklin tied the game with a free throw and later capped the scoring with two more from the stripe with 18 seconds to play.

Fresno State (6-8, 0-1) had a chance to tie the game, but Marvelle Harris missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds. The Bulldogs were led by Kevin Foster with 18 points and Olekaibe had 15.

Franklin, the reigning conference player of the year, had a highlight-reel dunk when he intentionally threw the ball off the backboard before grabbing it and slamming it down. Franklin has seven double-doubles on the season

GAME NOTEBOOK: San Diego State played without starting PG Xavier Thames because of a lower back strain. In fact, there were only nine players dressed for the Aztecs who also saw JJ O’Brien and Skylar Spencer suffer injuries in the game but both returned to action. …San Diego State has won five straight in the series. It is the second-best start in the Aztecs’ program history. …The Aztecs were the preseason conference favorite and are the two-time defending regular-season champions, and have won six straight conference openers.