'Roos Open Season with Big Win over ETBU

SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College men's basketball team sprinted out to a big lead and held on down the stretch against East Texas Baptist University, earning a 74-70 win in the season opener in Hughey Gym on Friday evening.

The 'Roos posted the second best free throw shooting night in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference history to help seal the win, making all 20 attempts to come in just shy of the conference record performance of 21-for-21. Five different players reached double figures for Austin College in a balanced scoring attack, led by 15 from Jackson Rennie, while Jamien June matched his career-best effort with 14 points in the victory. Austin College outscored ETBU 40-26 in the first half, and held on despite a big comeback bid in the final 10 minutes by the Tigers.

Austin College came out hot, taking an 11-2 lead less than four minutes in following a three-point-play by June, and a three from Rennie made it 21-11 with 13:54 left in the opening frame. ETBU cut it to a five point game at 25-20 with 8:13 remaining in the half, but Austin College closed on a 15-to-6 run, capped by a three from Rennie and a layup by Ethan Pearce just before the buzzer to send the 'Roos into the half with a 14 point lead.

The margin grew to 53-32 early in the second half on a bucket by Jordan Hudgins with 14:23 left in the game, and Austin College maintained its 21 point lead on a basket by June to make it 59-38 with just over 11 minutes remaining. However, East Texas Baptist started to chip away at the deficit, getting the score back into single digits on a layup by Colin Roberts to make it 61-52 with 7:25 left, and a free throw by Josh Joe cut it to 63-61 with 3:35 on the clock. Two more free throws by Joe kept it close at 65-63 with 2:37 left, but Pearce drilled a clutch three with 1:42 remaining to push it to a 68-63 game. The Tigers pulled to within two points two more times down the stretch, but Hudgins and Rennie combined to go 4-for-4 from the stripe in the final 10 seconds of action to seal the win.

Rennie knocked down 3-of-8 from beyond the arc to get to his team-best 15 points, and June made 4-of-8 from the field and 5-of-5 free throw attempts on his way to 14, while tying Pearce for the team high with six rebounds. Pearce finished with 13 points, six boards, four blocks, and three steals, and Price Bradley chipped in 12 points, four assists, and three steals. Kidus Getenet came off the bench to add 10 points for the 'Roos. Michael Roberts led all scorers with 25 points for ETBU, and Joshua Davis added 22.