UNLV 72, San Diego St. 69

1/26/2008 6:27 PM

SAN DIEGO (AP) -Joe Darger scored 19 points and Curtis Terry hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 26.2 seconds left to lead Nevada Las Vegas to a 72-69 win over San Diego State on Saturday.

UNLV (15-4, 4-1 Mountain West) won for eighth time in nine games and moved one-half game ahead of San Diego State into first place.

The Aztecs (14-6, 4-2 MWC) suffered consecutive losses for the first time in 34 games. San Diego State was coming off a 59-56 loss at Brigham Young on Wednesday.

Terry hit the deciding 3-pointer from the top of the key, his second 3-point shot in the final 2:18, to put the Runnin' Rebels ahead 72-69. Terry, who finished with 10 points, made a 3-pointer at the 2:18 mark to give UNLV a 67-63 lead.

San Diego State missed two 3-point attempts in the final 12.2 seconds.

UNLV led the entire game except for a 29-second span in the first half. But the game was close throughout with the Runnin' Rebels' biggest lead being nine points 4 1/2 minutes into the second half.

San Diego State twice tied the game in the final two minutes. The first time at 67-all on Billy White's rebound basket of a missed free throw with 1:53 remaining. Kyle Spain hit two free throws to tie the score 69-69 with 45.5 seconds left.

Darger, who made three 3-point shots, also had a game-high 10 rebounds. Corey Bailey chipped in 15 points, making all six field-goal attempts.

Ryan Amoroso paced San Diego State with 15 points and Spain added 13.