SAN JOSE — Xavier Thames scored 15 points and No. 7 San Diego State extended the second-longest winning streak in school history to 16 games with a 75-50 victory over San Jose State on Wednesday night.
Josh Davis added 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Winston Shepard and Skylar Spencer scored 12 apiece for the Aztecs (17-1, 6-0 Mountain West), who won their first six conference games for the first time since starting 7-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association in 1966-67. San Diego State has also won its last 39 games against California schools.
Devante Wilson scored 14 points and Jalen James added 10 for the Spartans (6-13, 0-7), who have lost 20 straight games against ranked teams since beating Alabama 60-59 in overtime on Dec. 27, 1996.
The Aztecs, off to their best start since winning their first 20 games three years ago, broke the game open with a pair of 16-0 runs in the second half. The first started when JJ O'Brien scored on a layup and drew the fifth foul from Isaac Thornton with 17:14 to play.
Thames hit a 3-pointer later to make it 44-30. Dwayne Polee then added a dunk following a missed free throw and the Aztecs used their defense to finish the run.
Thames stole the ball from James and fed Shepard for a dunk to give San Diego State a 19-point lead. Polee followed with a steal and jam that made it 51-30 and finally prompted first-year San Jose State coach Dave Wojcik to call a timeout.
Following a jumper by Wilson, the Aztecs scored 16 more in a row to make it 67-32 and send the Spartans to their seventh straight loss.
The Aztecs entered the game ranked first in the nation in field goal defense (35.4 percent) and second in scoring defense (55.7 points per game) and were even stingier than usual against the Spartans in the first half.
The teams combined to miss the first 12 shots of the game before Davis scored on a drive to get San Diego State on the board. Davis was fouled on the play but missed the free throw in a sign of how much the offenses would struggle.
The Aztecs put together an 8-0 burst midway through the half with a pair of three-point plays by Thames to take a 13-5 lead, and they remained ahead the rest of the way.
Spencer scored on a putback dunk and a lob pass from Shepard in the final minutes of the half to give the Aztecs a 29-19 lead at the break despite shooting just 29 percent. The Spartans were held to a season low for points in the first half and missed 23 of 29 shots.
This was the first meeting between the Cal State schools since the Aztecs left the WAC following the 1998-99 season. San Diego State had not won at San Jose State since 1978, losing the last three meetings here.
The game attracted a crowd of 4,117 that was the biggest since at least 2002 for the Spartans, who last hosted a ranked team in 2007 and hadn't played a top 10 team at home since losing 88-64 to then-No. 1 UNLV on Jan. 31, 1991.
