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 for the Gentlemen (1-28, 1-16 Summit League), who shot 62.5 percent from the field (10 of 16) in the second half for their first win since defeating IPFW 80-78 on Feb. 6, 2010.
Centenary, which was the last winless team in Division I, was within one loss of the tying the Division I record losing streak, set by Sacramento State from 1997-99.
''We have been waiting on this day for a very long time,'' first-year coach Adam Walsh said. ''I wanted this so bad for our players. They deserve this win, and it's huge for the program. We are at a high right now, so hopefully we can come out and play hard on Saturday.''
Nakwaasah's double-double was his third this season and the sixth of his career.
''We had a strong week of practice and it translated into the win. It felt great,'' Nakwaasah said.
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 three-pointer with 19:44 left to play.
Blount's three 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've now lost 11 straight games.
