DALLAS -- No. 15 SMU reached the halfway point to a perfect season with an 88-73 win over Central Florida on Sunday at Moody Coliseum.

SMU (15-0, 4-0 American Athletic Conference) and No. 22 South Carolina (15-0) are the only undefeated teams left in Division I.

Junior forward Ben Moore scored a career-high 23 points to lead SMU, while point guard Nic Moore scored 20 with a 6-of-9 performance from 3-point range. SMU forward Jordan Tolbert added 19 points and seven rebounds.

The Mustangs, ineligible for postseason play because of NCAA violations, have 15 games remaining.

"That's been the goal since we found out about the sanctions," SMU guard Jarrey Foster said of a perfect season. "There's nothing you can do better than go undefeated since there's no postseason. That's our mentality. We want to make sure that we're 30-0 by the end of the season."

SMU shot 54.8 percent from the field, and the only drama in the second half was coach Larry Brown' s absence. The 75-year-old Hall of Famer was dealing from vertigo and did not return to the bench for the second half.

"Way before the game, he said he was feeling poorly with vertigo," associate head coach Tim Jankovich said. "In the first half, I was watching him pretty close and he was getting up and down and I kept telling him to sit down, but he's a little stubborn once in a while."

UCF (8-6, 2-1 AAC) could not overcome an early scoring slump, despite a season-high 20 points off the bench from center Justin McBride.

The Mustangs broke the game open with a 19-1 run to take a 26-9 lead with 11:45 left in the first half. The margin grew to 18 when Nic Moore hit his second 3-pointer for a 37-19 advantage with 5:34 remaining in the half.

SMU, which is down to seven scholarship players, shot 58.6 percent from the field in the first half to coast to a 45-31 halftime lead.

"It's not how many numbers you've got, it's how many quality ones you've got," UCF coach Donnie Jones said. "He's got seven really good ones. He's done a good job keeping these guys focused on the next game and be able to play for something."

UCF avoided another slump in the second half and was only outscored 43-42 over the final 20 minutes.

"I thought the second half we had more composure once we calmed down a little bit," Jones said. "We pretty much played them even in the second half, but being down 15, it wasn't going to be good enough to get us back into the game."

UCF's plan was to pound the ball inside. However, Knights starting center Tacko Fall, who stands 7-foot-6, was limited to seven points in 12 minutes because of early foul trouble. Instead, it was the 6-10, 325-pound McBride who benefited from the focus inside.

The 6-7 Tolbert was asked how he prepared to face Fall, who had an 11-inch height advantage.

"I watched 'Space Jam' last night," Tolbert said.

Ben Moore scored 14 of his points in the first half on 7-of-11 shooting as SMU repeatedly beat UCF to the rim on alley-oop dunks.

Mustangs guard Sterling Brown tallied five assists in the first half and knocked in a pair of 3-pointers for nine points at the break. He cost himself an assist when one of his alley-oop lobs to Tolbert went into the basket for a 3-pointer.

"I wanted the lob, but he got three points out of it," Tolbert said. "Three is more than two. That's never happened before."

NOTES: UCF started conference play 2-0 for the first time since the 2011-12 season. ... SMU entered the game shooting 51.9 percent from the field, which ranked first in the American Athletic Conference and fourth in the NCAA. ... SMU coach Larry Brown's emphasis on ball movement is reflected statistically. The Mustangs average 18.7 assists per game, which leads the AAC and ranks ninth nationally. ... The game was the only matchup between UCF and SMU this season because of league scheduling.