Colorado College raced to a 19-point lead during the opening 11 minutes and then utilized clutch shooting during the final four minutes to keep its postseason hopes alive with an 88-78 victory over Southwestern University on Friday night.
 
The Tigers never trailed after racing to a 28-9 lead and maintained the 19-point cushion until the latter stages of the first half.
 
Brandon Alexander scored 13 of his game-high 27 points during the final 5:22 as the Pirates whittled their deficit to nine points.
 
CC led 46-31 after Scott Cunningham hit a layup 33 seconds into the second half, only to see Alexander drop 10 points during a 13-0 run that pulled Southwestern to within two.
 
Colorado College regained the momentum and led 68-58 when Cunningham hit a free throw with 6:56 to play, however the Pirates answered with seven in a row to cut their deficit to three on Ryan Wheeler's layup a little more than two minutes later.
 
Leading 71-67 with 3:46 remaining, Edmund Pendleton buried a long three-pointer from the top of the key to ignite a 7-0 run that put the Tigers back in command.
 
The Pirates, who went 13-for-34 from behind the arc, closed to within 79-73 when Ryan Wheeler buried a triple from the left corner with 1:19 to play, but Isaac Zachem countered with a three-pointer on the next possession and Colorado College sank all six of its free throws during the final 34 seconds to seal the victory.
 
Despite playing only nine minutes in the first half after picking up a pair of fouls, CooXooEii Black scored 23 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Tigers.
 
Pendleton added nine points, grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and dished out six assists for CC, which improved to 7-14 overall and 3-9 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
 
Devin Martinez produced 14 points and eight rebounds for the Tigers, while Zachem finished with 11.
 
Wheeler posted 17 points, six rebounds and three assists for Southwestern, which slipped to 10-9 overall and 7-3 in the conference.
 
Colorado College plays host to Texas Lutheran University on Saturday night in its final home game of the regular season.