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GAME NOTES: With the regular-season title in the Mountain West Conference still up for grabs, the San Diego State Aztecs and the 13th-ranked BYU Cougars battle each other for another win tonight as the programs clash at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.

San Diego State has come on strong in recent weeks with four straight wins and victories in six of the last seven outings overall. In fact, over the last 10 games, the Aztecs have lost only twice and those came against BYU and nationally-ranked New Mexico on the road in The Pit. On Saturday, the team moved to 9-4 in conference with a 68-61 decision over Utah at home.

As for the Cougars, who like SDSU are chasing 10th-ranked New Mexico at the moment, they have already equaled last year's win total and are showing their best record ever after 28 games. At 25-3 the squad has now posted at least 25 victories in each of the last four seasons for the first time in school history. The squad drilled Wyoming over the weekend with an 85-63 romp in Laramie, the team's third win in a row.

SDSU has won at least one game against the Cougars in each of the last six seasons, but the Aztecs are a mere 3-27 in Provo since the series began. Earlier this season, BYU picked up a 71-69 win in Southern California, accounting for the only home loss of the campaign for San Diego State. As a result, the Cougars lead the all-time series by a count of 45-22.

Shooting just 20-of-33 at the free-throw line on Saturday, the Aztecs nearly let one slip away against Utah, but in the end SDSU claimed the seven-point home win on the strength of Malcolm Thomas and his career-high 28 points. Kawhi Leonard registered a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds as well. Head coach Steve Fisher has his team moving in the right direction when it counts the most, but he still has to be concerned with the fact that this group is one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country, ranking 329th as of Sunday with a level of accuracy that measures a mere 60.5 percent. Thomas (10.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg) is one of the biggest culprits with a feeble 66-of-132 showing at the charity stripe through 27 games. If it were not for Leonard (12.7 ppg, 9.6 rpg) and his somewhat respectable 70.1 percent shooting at the line, there's no telling how bad off the Aztecs might be at this point.

BYU shot only 43.9 percent from the field and 7-of-22 behind the three-point line in the meeting with the Wyoming Cowboys over the weekend, but the squad also held an advantage on the glass (43-31) and had few turnovers (six) in order to cruise to the 22-point road victory. Tyler Haws shared the spotlight with Jimmer Fredette as they both delivered 22 points, while Jonathan Tavernari turned in another strong effort off the bench with his 17 points and eight boards, followed by Jackson Emery with 10 points to complete the list of double-digit scorers. The Cougars were right on target with their scoring production, the team averaging 82.8 ppg at the moment to rank fourth in the nation. What's even more impressive is that the team entered the week ranked second in the country in scoring margin, second only to top-ranked Kansas, beating foes by 19.2 ppg. Fredette has been a scoring phenom in 2009-10, putting up 21.5 ppg as he shoots not only 48.8 percent behind the three-point line but also 89.9 percent at the charity stripe. Because of him, BYU is first in the nation at the line, hitting 77.9 percent, which is head-and-shoulders beyond the competition at just 66.7 percent right now.

BYU has won 20 straight home games dating back to last season, but even that is not a guarantee that the Cougars can set down San Diego State tonight. Although, a close contest certainly works in favor of the home team seeing as how big the discrepancy is between the two programs at the free-throw line.