SHREVEPORT, La. - James Washington and David Nurse scored career-highs of 28 and 26 points respectively, but it was not enough as Western Illinois fell to Centenary 95-88.

Nurse scored the first six points of the game for the Leathernecks (8-9, 3-3 Summit) as he connected on a three-pointer :12 seconds into the game. Western did not score for another 3:25 when Nurse was fouled shooting a three and hit all of his ensuing free throw attempts, giving the Leathernecks the lead at 6-4. Washington and Nurse each connected from downtown to extend Western's lead to seven points. In between those shots came a three from Centenary's Tyrone Hamilton. The seven point advantage was the largest for either team in the opening frame as the Gents (8-10, 2-4 Summit) battled back to tie the game at 22 with 9:28 left in the half. The score was tied six times before the end of the first half. Nurse broke that final tie by hitting his third three-pointer of the half. Centenary answered with a layup at the buzzer, and Western led 37-36 at the break.

"I was concerned about our approach coming into tonight, especially going against a team whose back is against the wall," said Western Illinois head coach Derek Thomas. "I thought they came out a little more hungry than we did and that bothered me. We were playing to their pace instead of ours, and we would not slow down. They were getting a lot of easy shots and we were just trying to get our guys to slow down and couldn't."

The teams played near even in every category through the first 20-minutes of play. Western was 39 percent (10-of-26) from the floor while Centenary shot 43 percent (13-of-30). The Gents held a slight advantage on the boards, 21-19.

The Gents quickly erased Western's lead with a Lance Hill layup on their first possession of the second half. Their lead grew to as many as eight at 56-48 with 13:50 left to play. The Leathernecks slowly chipped away at the lead and Washington was able to tie the game at 65-65 when he connected on a three-pointer, after Louis Johnson had kept an offensive rebound alive for the Leathernecks. Nurse drained a three-pointer with 7:34 left to play to give Western its first lead of the second half. The Gents took the lead back, only to see the Leathernecks regain it at 76-74 on a Washington layup with 2:41 to play. After a time out by Western, Hill gave Centenary the lead for good by hitting a three from the top of the key. The Gents closed the game on a 21-12 run to collect the win.

"You have to give them credit, they played a little more physical than we did," added Thomas. "We didn't match it right away, but when we finally did I thought we got too comfortable. We finally got the lead but then they hit the three from the top of the key by (Lance) Hill, and that closed the game out."

Western finished the contest 48 percent (24-of-50) from the floor, including 61 percent (11-of-18) from beyond the arc. All 11 of those three-pointers came from Washington (6-of-8) and Nurse (5-of-6). Jerryck Owens-Murrey shot a career-high 16 free throws, connecting on 10 of those shots.

Joining Washington and Nurse in double-figures for the Leathernecks were David Jackson with 13 and Owens-Murrey with 12. Tyrone Hamilton led the attack for the Gents with 21 points. Three other players joined Hamilton in double-digits for Centenary.

"They've got a good offense and are very good at home," said Thomas. "We missed too many free throws overall though and did not get enough stops on consecutive possessions. Offensively though I'm not too worried about things, I'm worried about the extra opportunities and made too many mistakes. We were too comfortable and I've been preaching the last couple of days that you can't get comfortable now, you have to stay hungry and I don't think we did that tonight."

Western is back in action Saturday with a 7 p.m. contest in Tulsa, Okla. against Oral Roberts.