Southwestern University scored 24 points off turnovers and made just enough of its 24 free throw attempts to defeat Colorado College, 72-68, in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game on Sunday afternoon.

Ryan Wheeler finished with 20 points for the Pirates, who never trailed in the contest.

CC fell behind 19-10 midway through the first half, but freshman guard Scott Cunningham dialed long distance to cap an 11-2 surge that tied the score at 21-21 with 7:10 to play.

However, Kyle Howard scored 20 seconds later to put Southwestern ahead to stay.

The Tigers were within two points after freshman guard Aaron Acosta hit a jumper 4:02 into the second half, but was unable to put defensive stops together and saw the Pirates maintain their advantage.

After Andrew Puhl's bucket gave Southwestern a 67-58 lead with 3:17 remaining, Colorado College used a layup by junior guard Nabeel Elabdeia and a three-pointer from Acosta to cut its deficit to four points with 1:28 to go.

CC missed its next three shots and Southwestern sealed its victory by making five of eight free throws during the final 38 seconds.  

CooXooEii Black led the Tigers with 18 points and four assists. The junior forward also grabbed six boards.

Acosta finished with 12 points and six rebounds for Colorado College, which slipped to 4-8 overall and 0-3 in the SCAC.

Cunningham added 11 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

The Pirates shot just 42 percent from the floor and only 18 percent from behind the arc, but made up for that by making 14 of 22 free-throw attempts.

At the other end of the court, CC sank four of its five free throws.

Howard finished with 12 points and five assists for Southwestern, which improved to 5-5 overall and 2-0 in the conference.

Colorado College is idle until Saturday, Dec. 29, when it opens a five-game SCAC home stand against the University of Dallas at Reid Arena.