The Pirates battled back from a second half deficit to pull even with two minutes remaining, but Colorado College closed the game with six straight points to give SU a 65-59 loss on Friday in Colorado Springs.
Colorado College jumped out to an early lead and never trailed in the first half, sending Southwestern into the locker room down five, 36-31.
CC pushed their lead to ten a minute and a half into the second half, but Southwestern hung close and made a run late in the half.
Zach Whitlock's layup with 6:43 remaining kicked off an 8-0 Pirate run to give Southwestern the lead for the first time in the game 53-52. Colorado got the lead back from the free throw line, but Nnamdi Akabogu put SU back on top with a tip-in with 2:12 to play.
Colorado went 5-6 from the free throw line and hit a crucial jumper with 1:11 on the clock to seal the win while Southwestern was held without a field goal in the final 2:47.
Southwestern shot 40.4% from the floor and 37.5% from three point range while Colorado shot 42.3% from the floor and 33.3% from long range. SU was led by Chris Lee with 16 points on 5-9 shooting from the floor and 4-7 from distance. Zach Whitlock added in 13 points.
The Pirates were outrebounded 33-28 as no Pirate was over five rebounds in the game. Blake Scott posted three blocks in the loss.
Now 13-8 on the year and 9-3 in the SCAC, Southwestern remains on the road to face league-leading Centenary College on Sunday at 2pm in Shreveport.