No. 21 SMU 74, East Carolina 68: Nic Moore collected 20 points and five assists as the Mustangs survived a scare from the Pirates in the American Athletic Conference quarterfinals in Hartford, Conn.

Markus Kennedy added 15 points and six rebounds for No. 1 seed SMU (25-6), which takes on fourth-seeded Temple in Saturday’s semifinals. Yanick Moreira contributed 10 points and six boards as the Mustangs used a 13-6 advantage on the offensive glass to help overcome a 3-point barrage.

Antonio Robinson scored a career-high 18 points to go with six assists and six rebounds while joining Terry Whisnant and Caleb White with four 3-pointers apiece for No. 8 seed East Carolina (14-19). Whisnant finished with 18 points and White had 14 for the Pirates.

Moore had five points and three assists in a 15-3 run that put SMU up 59-51 with just under nine minutes to play. East Carolina hit three 3-pointers in a row and took a 62-61 lead on Robinson’s free throws before Kennedy converted back-to-back three-point plays as the Mustangs went back on top for good.

The Pirates hit six 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes and led by as much as 10 points early in the first half before SMU used a 12-0 run to take the lead and went into the break up 37-32. East Carolina got hot from beyond the arc again early in the second, connecting on three straight possessions to spark a 16-4 run that left it on top 48-44 with just over 14 minutes to play.

GAME NOTEBOOK: East Carolina finished with a season-high 15 3-pointers on 35 attempts. … The Mustangs had 20 more free-throw attempts (19-of-28) than the Pirates (7-of-8). … Moore, who was named the conference Player of the Year, reached 20 points for the first time since Feb. 7.