Centenary ends 33 game skid vs Western Illinois

SHREVEPORT—Maxx Nakwaasah tied his career-high with 24 points and added 11 rebounds as Centenary defeated Western Illinois 73-60 on Thursday night, ending Division I’s longest losing streak at 33 games. Jonathan Blount added a career-high 19 points and the Gentlemen (1-28, 1-16 Summit League) shot 62.5 percent from the field (10 of 16) in the second half for their first victory since defeating IPFW 80-78 on Feb. 6, 2010.Centenary, which was the last winless team in Division I, was within one loss of tying the Division I record losing streak, set by Sacramento State from 1997-99. Nakwaasah’s double-double was his third this season, the sixth of his career.Centenary used a 12-0, first-half run to take an 18-7 lead on Nakwaasah’s layup with 10:55 left before halftime. The Gentlemen built their advantage to 25-9 with 7:43 left, but Western Illinois (7-21, 2-15) rallied to cut the score to 32-27 on Jack Houpt’s 3-pointer with 19:44 left to play.Blount’s 3-pointer pushed Centenary’s lead back to 44-32 with 16:09 left.Houpt scored 15, Jelani Johnson had 13, Kaimarr Price scored 12 and Matt Lander added 10 for the Leathernecks, who have lost 11 straight. Centenary is dropping out of Division I after this season. Their most famous basketball Alum is Robert “The Chief” Parrish.