Senior forward Chris Lesnansky scored 24 points to tie Elliott Broadnax for ninth place on Colorado College's career scoring list, but his performance wasn't enough to overcome Southwestern University's red-hot first half.

SU outscored the Tigers 20-2 during the opening 6:07 and held on for an 81-68 victory on Friday night.

The Pirates connected on 16 of 29 shots in the first half, including six of 12 from behind the arc, while building a 44-14 lead with 2:44 to play before the break.

CC methodically whittled its deficit to 16 points when Lesnansky converted a three-point play with 7:42 remaining on the clock, but they could not get any closer during the next five minutes.

Three-pointers by freshman guard Eric Houska and junior swing man Luke Winfield, along with a pair of free throws by junior guard Juwan Rohan, helped Colorado College close out the game on an 8-2 run to pull to within 13 points at the final buzzer.  

Lesnansky, who made nine of 18 shots from the floor and five of 11 free throws, finished the contest with 1,311 points.

Senior guard Ryan Kell and Houska finished with 12 points apiece for the Tigers, who slipped to 6-7 overall and 1-2 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Travis Kurtz scored 16 points to lead six Pirates in double figures. Blake Scott finished with 15 points, while Chris Lee added 14 points and four assists.

Ryan Ogden recorded 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds for Southwestern, which finished with a 43-31 advantage on the glass.

CC wraps up its run of four consecutive SCAC road games on Saturday night at Texas Lutheran University.