GEORGETOWN, Texas – Just 24 hours from now the Southwestern men's basketball team will tip off at the 2016 SCAC Championship as the No. 3 seed for the second straight season. The Pirates will face sixth-seeded Austin College at 3 p.m. in the Gold Dome in Shreveport, La.

This is the first meeting between the two in the SCAC Championship, but third meeting this season with Southwestern winning the first two by a total of 19 points. The matchup on January 8^th saw the Pirates squeak out a one-point win at home before then posting an 18-point victory, 89-71, in Sherman.

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Under second-year head coach Janson Hightower, Southwestern boasts the highest-scoring offense in the conference. The Pirates currently average 81.6 points per contest which, as it stands, would be the highest single-season team total posted by a SCAC men's team in over a decade.

Leading that scoring barrage is sophomore forward Ryan Ogden, who averages 17.9 points per contest (second in the SCAC). He is also second in the league in rebounds per game at 9.1. Three other Southwestern players are averaging double digits in scoring, including junior forward Zach Whitlock (14.8 ppg), junior guard Chris Molina (13.2 ppg) and sophomore Connor Kim (11.4 ppg).

That high-powered offense will face its greatest challenge in the Kangaroos defense that is leading the conference in several defensive categories. AC is limiting opponents to just 74.2 points per game this season.

Last season, Southwestern played just the third double-overtime game in SCAC men's tournament history, defeating Schreiner, 81-76, in the quarterfinals before falling to Centenary, 87-80, in the tournament semifinals.

Live stats and video links can be found at SouthwesternPirates.com.