The Colorado College men's basketball team punched their ticket to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament for the second consecutive year with a 78-54 win over Austin College on Friday night. 
 
It is the first time since 2018 that CC will appear in the SCAC Tournament for the second consecutive season. 
 
"Tonight was a great win for our program," head coach Jeff Conarroe said. "Our conference has good balance and has been very competitive. Securing a postseason spot with one game to play is great for our program. We had a tremendous defensive effort tonight against a good Austin team." 
 
The Tigers shot the ball exponentially from long range despite not shooting well overall. CC was 8-18 from deep (44.4 percent), including Edgar Romero, who went a perfect 5-5 from three-point range. Romero finished the game with a team-high 20 points, two rebounds and a steal. 
 
Dinari Boykin was behind him with 17 points, nine rebounds and three steals. 
 
CC also took advantage of the free-throw line, getting to the charity stripe 40 times and converting 28 attempts. Boykin went 7-8. 
 
The lead only exchanged hands once throughout the game. Austin College got an 8-3 lead six minutes into the game before the first three-pointer by Romero put the Tigers on top 10-8. CC didn't lose the lead from there on out. 
 
The Tiger defense held the 'Roos to 25.93 percent shooting in the first half as CC went into the halftime break with a 30-26 lead. Austin College would bring it back within four points with 14:59 to play in the second half, but the game would never get within four points. 
 
More three-pointers by the Tigers, including a couple by Scott Ruegg and Gavin Carter, helped bring the CC to a 20-point lead, and the Tigers rolled from there. 
 
"We won the battle in the paint in second half and got to the FT line and converted," Conarroe said. "I'm proud of our guys, I thought we were pretty nervous and anxious to start with what was on the line, but in the end, I felt we made many winning plays!
 
CC improves to 14-10 (8-7 SCAC) and looks ahead to the University of Dallas on Sunday at noon. The Tigers will celebrate the program's seniors on Senior Day on Sunday.