No. 25 San Diego State starts fast, holds off UNLV

Adam Seiko points off the bench by making 6 of 10 shots from 3-point range to help the No. 25 San Diego State to a 82-71 victory against visiting UNLV in a Mountain West Conference game on Saturday afternoon.

Matt Bradley scored 17 points, Keshad Johnson scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half, and Nathan Mensah finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds for San Diego State (20-5, 11-2 MWC), which moved a game ahead of Nevada for first place in the conference standings with five games remaining.

Elijah Harkless, who entered second in the Mountain West at 18.1 points a game, scored 24 points for UNLV and Keshon Gilbert had 19 points for the Rebels (16-9, 5-8), which had won four of its previous five games.

The Aztecs took a 20-point lead into the second half, but needed to regroup after the Rebels went on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 48-34 with 16:02 left.

After a timeout, the Aztecs went on an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 56-34 with 13:37 remaining, which was more than enough to hold off a final late push by the Rebels.

Johnson, who entered with 7.9 points per game, helped San Diego State get off to a hot start.

Johnson scored 11 of the first 16 points for the Aztecs as they built a 16-9 lead. The 6-foot-7 senior stole a pass attempt into the key and was fouled at the basket in transition with 10:13 left.

A flagrant foul was ultimately called on Gilbert and Johnson made 1 of 2 free throws before Lamont Butler scored on a dunk on the ensuing possession for a 25-11 lead with 10:04 left in the first half.

Bradley capped the 14-0 run with another dunk in transition for a 30-11 lead with 9:01 left.

Seiko sank another 3-pointer with 3:03 left to make it 39-21 and ignite a 7-2 run to end the first half.