Nurse leads Leathernecks past Wildcats, 73-36

MACOMB, Ill. - David Nurse matched a career-best five three pointers totaling 18 points to pave the way to a Western Illinois 73-36 victory over Culver-Stockton College, Wed., Dec. 9, at Waste Management Court in Western Hall.

"We played pretty well but we still didn't give a great effort for all 40 minutes. We had a few lapses tonight but we were a lot better than our previous games," Western Illinois head coach Jim Molinari said. "A game like this gave us a chance to get our younger guys like David Gebru, Jelani Johnson and Abdou Niang some more playing time."

The Fighting Leathernecks (4-5) had three players record double-digit scoring figures in the first half as Western opened the game with an 11-2 run over the first six minutes. The Wildcats' (2-7) leading scorer Jason Gillespie accounted for all of Culver-Stockton's first seven points. Western Illinois held a 25-point lead heading into halftime, 44-19.

Nurse finished the first half with 14 points, while Quenton Kirby and Matt Lander each had 11. Culver-Stockton's Gillespie was responsible for 12 points in the first half.

"It's good to see that we had a lot of guys with good offensive outputs today," Kirby said. "It give us a lot of confidence because we all know we can play solid defense its now just a matter of shooting."

The Leathernecks shot 48.3 from the floor (14-of-29) to Culver-Stockton's 36.8 percent (7-of-19). Nurse had four threes in the first half and Jelani Johnson had two treys helping Western to a 46.7 shooting percentage from downtown.

Western's offense slowed in the second half as it shot 36.7 percent (11-for-30), but the Leathernecks never let up their double-digit lead as the Wildcats could not come within 25 points. Western extended its lead to as many as 39 points (73-34) with 1:27 remaining in the game.

David Gebru grabbed a career-best eight rebounds helping Western to a 14-2 advantage over the Wildcats in second-chance points. Behind Nurse's game-leading 18, Kirby finished with 16 points and Lander had 13.

"David Nurse was really good defensively tonight. I was really excited to see him get out there and play well on defense and shoot well on the offensive side. Matt Lander and Ceola Clark played really good position defense today and that really helped us create some turnovers and some chances offensively," Molinari said. "We're making some strides as a team but we still have more progress to make. They work hard everyday and they're improving."

The Leathernecks play host to Eastern Illinois, Saturday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m., for their second non-conference game this week.

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Players Mentioned

#5 David Nurse: G; 6' 3"; Senior; Kearney / Kansas City Kansas CC

#32 Quenton Kirby: G; 6' 2"; Senior; Weimar / McLennan CC

#24 Matt Lander: G; 6' 4"; Junior; Evansville Bosse / John A. Logan

#43 Abdou Niang: F; 6' 9"; Freshman; Stoneridge Prep (Calif.)

#30 Jelani Johnson: G/F; 6' 4"; Freshman; Waubonsie Valley

#33 David Gebru: C; 6' 10"; Freshman; Rainer Beach / Maine Central Institute

Players Mentioned

#5 David Nurse
: 6' 3"; Senior; Kearney / Kansas City Kansas CC
: G

#32 Quenton Kirby
: 6' 2"; Senior; Weimar / McLennan CC
: G

#24 Matt Lander
: 6' 4"; Junior; Evansville Bosse / John A. Logan
: G

#43 Abdou Niang
: 6' 9"; Freshman; Stoneridge Prep (Calif.)
: F

#30 Jelani Johnson
: 6' 4"; Freshman; Waubonsie Valley
: G/F

#33 David Gebru
: 6' 10"; Freshman; Rainer Beach / Maine Central Institute
: C