SMU advances to AAC final

HARTFORD, Conn. — Southern Methodist is back in a place it hasn’t been in quite some time.

Next week, the Mustangs will return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 22 years.

Southern Methodist used stellar defense against Temple on Saturday to advance to the American Athletic Conference championship game with a 69-56 victory at the XL Center.

The 20th-ranked Mustangs will play in a conference championship game for the first time since 1988 when they took the Southwest Conference title against Baylor. SMU will play Tulsa or Connecticut in Sunday’s final.

To reach the tournament final in the conference’s second year of existence, SMU shut down a team they had beaten twice already this season.

“It’s pretty hard to beat a team three times, especially a quality team with an unbelievable coach,” SMU coach Larry Brown said. “To beat a Temple team, a quality program like that three times, it really means a lot to our program.”

Temple junior forward Jaylen Bond started the second half with a jumper to put the Owls up by four points, and then it was all Mustangs.

SMU made seven straight shots from the field during a six-minute span of the second half, taking its largest lead to that point at 49-38 on an alley-oop dunk by Ryan Manuel with 11:52 remaining.

A 23-8 SMU run after Bond’s jumper left Temple unable to regain its footing.

“We were just getting stops and executing,” said sophomore forward Sterling Brown, who finished with eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds. “We talked about that at halftime. We wanted to come out and execute and do what coach said.”

Two quick fouls by Bond — his third and fourth of the game — early in the second half helped pave the way for SMU’s run. Bond’s fourth foul had Temple’s bench riled up after he was whistled while chasing down a loose ball with 17 seconds remaining.

“It was an interesting play, to say the least,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said.

Junior forward Markus Kennedy, a Philadelphia native and former Villanova Wildcat who is in his second season at SMU, continued his success against his hometown team and former Big 5 rival. The AAC’s Sixth Man of the Year, who had 21 points against Temple in a victory in January, finished with a game-high 17 points and nine rebounds.

“I know most of their team, I’m real good friends with a lot of them,” Kennedy said. “It was always love when I play against Temple, but I play hard for my teammates. … I think that’s what it is more than anything, just playing harder for my teammates because I know how much this game means.”

The loss leaves Temple with a long 24 hours until Sunday’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show, where they Owls probably will be one of the last four teams in the field, if they are included at all.

Dunphy had certainly hoped to avoid the bubble, but his team couldn’t find the offense to make it happen.

The Owls were held to 27.3 percent shooting from the field (9 of 33) in the second half and 29.3 percent overall, the third time this season they have been below 30 percent from the floor and the second time in the last five games.

“I thought we had some decent looks in the second half,” Dunphy said. “I thought we may have rushed it a few times.”

Junior wing Quenton DeCosey paced Temple with 14 points and senior guard Jesse Morgan added 10 on his 24th birthday.

The Mustangs started almost as slowly from the floor, going 10 of 26 (38.5 percent) in the first half but 15 of 27 (55.6 percent) in the second, hitting nine of their first 10 shots.

But SMU won’t be have to wait on Selection Sunday this year after the Mustangs were somewhat controversially left out of the tournament last year after winning 23 games in the regular season.

The regular-season AAC champions are a lock to go dancing for the first time since 1993 and for just the fourth time since 1968.

NOTES: SMU’s 52 victories over the last two seasons are the most in any such span in school history.