Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third main cause of cancer-relevant deaths worldwide, and its incidence has increased in recent decades. Previous studies have indicated that certain long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have regulatory roles in tumor occurrence and progression. Often, lncRNAs are competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) which sponge miRNAs to up-regulate mRNAs. Here, we examined the role of a novel lncRNA BBOX1 antisense RNA 1 (BBOX1-AS1) in colorectal cancer (CRC). We observed that BBOX1-AS1 is overexpressed in CRC cell lines, and BBOX1-AS1 knockdown enhances cell proliferation, migration and invasion while reducing cell apoptosis. MiR-361-3p is present at a low level in CRC and is negatively modified by BBOX1-AS1. Moreover, miR-361-3p was validated to be targeted by BBOX1-AS1. SH2B1 was notably up-regulated in CRC cell lines, and identified as a downstream gene of miR-361-3p. In addition, we found that miR-361-3p amplification can suppress the expression of SH2B1. Finally, data from rescue assays suggested that overexpression of SH2B1 counteracted BBOX1-AS1 silencing-mediated inhibition of CRC progression. In conclusion, BBOX1-AS1 promotes CRC progression by sponging hsa-miR-361-3p and up-regulating SH2B1.