Mount Vernon, Ga. – The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team clinched a spot in the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament with a 75-71 win at Brewton-Parker on Saturday.

Coastal Georgia is now assured of finishing ahead of both Brewton-Parker and Blue Mountain in the conference standings which guarantees them a spot in the upcoming league tournament as the bottom two teams in the conference standings do not advance to the postseason tournament.

The Mariners (10-19 overall, 6-10 SSAC) close out the regular season with games next Thursday and Saturday against Faulkner and Auburn-Montgomery. Both games are in Montgomery, Ala., which also will host the conference tournament the following week.

"I'm proud of the guys," said Coastal Georgia head coach Jesse Watkins. "We closed out a game we really needed. Now, we want to try and close out the regular season on a good note and get ready for the tournament."

Saturday's win was the second this season for Coastal Georgia over the Barons. The Mariners defeated them 92-84 at home on Feb. 6.

In this latest game, the Mariners used an efficient offense to turn back the Barons as they shot 52.7 percent (29-55) from the field and also hit 14-of-19 foul shots on the day.

Coastal Georgia was again led by SSAC leading scorer Dominic Early who poured in a game-best 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Coastal Georgia got 18 points from Derrick Frye and 12 from Jamaal Rhodes.

Corey Harris dished out seven assists to go with six points and turned over the ball just once as the starting point guard. He also pulled down a team-high six rebounds for the Mariners who were outrebounded 35-30 in the win.

The Mariners were especially effective offensively in the first half as they were 17-of-29 from the field and 9-for-10 from the foul line while building a 47-39 lead before halftime.

They led by as much as 14 late in the second half before holding off the Barons who made two late runs to close the gap on the scoreboard.