TULSA, Okla. - David Jackson scored 20 points and Eliz Cepeda grabbed 12 rebounds, but Western Illinois lost a tight battle to top-seeded Oral Roberts, 60-53, in the first round of the Mid-Continent Conference Championship.The Leathernecks (7-21), who were trying to become the first No. 8 seed to win a Mid-Con Tournament game, never trailed by more than nine and held a lead for much of the first half. Down four with 2:52 remaining in the half, the Golden Eagles (19-11) ended the period on a 9-1 run that gave them a 25-21 lead at the break. Much like the teams' last meeting, in Macomb, league Player of the Year Caleb Green was held scoreless in the first half, but Tutt, who missed the last outing against the Leathernecks, tallied 14 point before the break. Facing their largest deficit of the game, 37-28, at the 12:57 mark, the Leathernecks responded with a 10-1 run over the next four minutes that brought them within one, 39-38, with nine minutes remaining. Oral Roberts, however, quickly built its lead to eight again, 46-38, just 2:08 later. Western climbed within four on several occasions in the final minutes, but Oral Roberts was a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line after hitting its last field goal at the 3:03 mark.The Leathernecks outrebounded the Golden Eagles, 47-44, taking a 22-12 advantage on the offensive glass, but shot only 8-of-20 from the free throw line. Oral Roberts hit 17 of its 25 attempts. Jackson was joined in double figures by Fred Oguns, who scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Cepeda's 12 rebounds matched his career-high. Green ended with 14 points for the Golden Eagles, which were held to 60 points for just the second time in league play this season. He also grabbed 14 rebounds while Larry Owens added 10 boards. POSTGAME NOTES:- Eliz Cepeda (12), Sean Blalock (9) and Sammy Hunter (6) all matched career highs on the boards.- Jackson recorded his fourth 20-point game of the season.POSTGAME QUOTES from Western Illinois head coach Derek Thomas:"I couldn't be more proud of our team. Tonight you saw the real Leathernecks. We've had an up and down season, but tonight you saw the real thing and I thought they represented the University extremely well.""It came down to not hitting our free throws. You can't give a very talented team like Oral Roberts an edge like that. We outplayed them in most categories, but we just didn't hit our free throws."On the 8-of-20 free throw performance:"Maybe it was because we expended so much energy on the boards. We had to do that because of their size advantage. I've never seen a team that rebounded as well as we did tonight. We played simply a phenomenal game."On holding Green scoreless in the first half:"We tried to take his moves away and crowd him. We wanted to prevent him from getting the ball because he's so good at creating once he has the ball. A player as good as he is, you can't contain him the entire game."Oral Roberts head coach Scott Sutton:"I find it unbelievable that (Western Illinois) has just three (conference) wins. They are as tough a team as we've played all season. They were flying to the glass, and doing a lot of the things that we are usually the ones doing."