Senior forward Malik Pope tallied 16 points as the Aztecs (19-10, 11-7 MW) won their sixth consecutive contest. Senior center Kameron Rooks added 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting.

Junior forward Jordan Caroline scored 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting for the Wolf Pack (26-6, 15-3), who had a six-game winning streak halted. Junior forward Caleb Martin added 22 points and nine rebounds, and twin brother Cody had 13 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Nevada will be the top seed in next week's Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas and is virtually guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament. San Diego State earned the Mountain West tourney's fifth seed.

"We're playing good basketball right now," Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said in a postgame interview on the CBS Sports Network. "Our only chance to get to the NCAAs is to win the Mountain West tournament."

Kell swished a straightaway 20-footer with 40.2 seconds left to give San Diego State a 76-72 lead. Pope missed three of four free throws to keep the Wolf Pack alive, but Kell connected on two free throws with 4.4 seconds left to put the game away.

The contest was at tied at 40 less than two minutes into the second half before Pope capped a 10-2 surge with a jumper to give the Aztecs a 50-42 advantage with 15:03 remaining.

Nevada recovered to pull within 55-53 on a dunk by senior guard Hallice Cooke with 11:24 left. However, San Diego State answered with a 10-1 burst with freshman forward Jalen McDaniels scoring the final four points to give the Aztecs a 65-54 lead with 7:52 remaining.

The Wolf Pack whittled away at their deficit and later received six straight points from Caroline to creep within 72-70 with 1:44 left. Kell hit two free throws to push San Diego State ahead by four, but Caroline answered with a layup with 1:07 to play.

San Diego State scored the final 12 points of the first half and led 36-34 at the break.

The Aztecs led 15-9 after a jumper by Kell before the Wolf Pack rattled off 15 straight points with Caleb Martin's jumper capping the surge with 9:10 remaining. San Diego State moved within 24-22 on junior guard Devin Watson's 3-pointer with 7:05 left before Nevada rolled off 10 consecutive points to take a 10-point advantage.

--Field Level Media