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LAS VEGAS -- Malachi Flynn scored all of his 28 points after halftime to lead San Diego State past Iowa 83-73 as the Aztecs rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit in Las Vegas Invitational championship game on Friday night. Flynn, the tournament's MVP, also had five rebounds and four assists while going 9 of 9 from the free-throw line. Jordan Schakel and Yanni Wetzell each had 14 points for the Aztecs (8-0) -- their best start since 2010-11, when they were also was 8-0. CJ Fredrick led Iowa (5-2) with 16 points. Connor McCaffery added 15 and Joe Toussaint had 13. Luka Garza, who is averaging over 20 points per game, had nine points on 3-for-8 shooting and eight rebounds. San Diego State took the lead for good on Wetzell layup with 14:01 left after trailing by 16 with 3:05 remaining until halftime. After the Aztecs led for most of the early portions of the first half, Iowa took the lead on a five-point possession, 20-17, after free throws by Toussaint and Garza. That also started a 22-4 run building Iowa's largest lead at 37-21, before leading 41-32 at halftime. This was the first meeting between the teams. TIP-INS San Diego State: The Aztecs' 8-0 start is their first since the 2010-11 season when reaching the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. This is also the third time in last 34 years they began with that mark. San Diego State received votes this week in the Associated Press' Top 25 poll. Iowa: The trip to Las Vegas was the Hawkeyes first games outside Iowa City. The Invitational also starts a stretch of eight of 10 road games. Garza missed some time during the second half in the win over No. 12 Texas Tech Thursday due to a busted lip. He received four stitches during Thursday's game. HOME AWAY FROM HOME San Diego State is now 33-12 in Las Vegas since the 2009-10 season. That includes a 12-4 mark against UNLV. UP NEXT Iowa: The Hawkeyes play at Syracuse on Tuesday. San Diego State: The Aztecs play at Colorado State on Thursday. ---- More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25
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