SAN DIEGO -- Andrew Bogut was unfazed by No. 21 Utah's slow start -- and San Diego State's tough defense.
Bogut had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Utah rebounded from a poor first half to beat San Diego State 61-41 Saturday night for its 14th consecutive victory.
"He showed a great deal of maturity for being the biggest guy out there," Utah coach Ray Giacoletti said about the 7-footer, who made his first seven shots. "He is a special player. He made some great decisions out there when he was double teamed. He is such a good passer, he gets other people involved."
The Utes (19-3, 7-0 Mountain West), who led 28-21 halftime, dominated in the second half and extended its conference lead to two games over second-place Air Force.
Justin Hawkins added 15 points for Utah and Richard Chaney scored nine of his 11 points in the second half.
The Utes' winning streak is their longest since closing out the 2002 regular season with 19 consecutive victories. Utah, which became the first Mountain West team to start conference play with seven straight wins, has beaten San Diego State in 27 of 29 games.
Utah shot 53.8 percent in the second half after making 38.3 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes.
The Utes missed 19 of their first 24 shots, but rebounded by shooting 5-for-8 in the final seven minutes and closed out the first half on a 15-6 run.
Marc Jackson keyed the run with 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, giving the Utes a 24-15 lead with just over three minutes left.
"I'll take an ugly start any time like that," Giacoletti said. "We didn't shoot the ball very well, but we played aggressively on the defensive end, and that made all the difference."
Marcus Slaughter led San Diego State (9-11, 3-4) with 18 points and eight rebounds. Brandon Heath, the Aztecs' leading scorer with an 18.2 average, was limited to six points on 3-for-8 shooting.
"We made them try to shoot some shots from the perimeter in the first half and they weren't scoring," San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. "But they came back in the second half and made those same shots."
Utah built its lead to 34-23 four minutes into the second half on Bogut's jump hook, then went up 42-27 on a three-point play by Chaney at the 8:56 mark.
Utah held the Aztecs to 34.1 percent shooting from the field and had a 36-23 rebounding edge.
