WEST LIBERTY – Unbeaten and No. 1-ranked West Liberty hit the century mark for the 15th time this season Thursday night in rolling to a 100-74 victory against Bluefield State before a full house at the ASRC.
Coach Jim Crutchfield’s Hilltoppers (17-0, 13-0) put the game on ice early, jetting out to a 12-0 lead in the first three minutes and building a 29-6 advantage before the game was eight minutes old.
“I thought we did a good job of taking control early,” Crutchfield said. “Then I thought we came back out with good intensity at the start of the second half to finish the job.”
West Liberty had a 58-31 lead at halftime and pushed the margin to 91-49 before Crutchfield cleared his bench with 9:46 remaining.
The Big Blues (2-16, 2-12) outscored the Hilltopper reserves, 25-9, down the stretch to make the final score a bit more respectable and that left a bit of a bad taste in the coach’s mouth.
“This was a great opportunity for our younger guys to play some quality minutes so I was a little disappointed they didn’t take advantage of it,” the coach said.
“On the one hand, you hate to see that many points taken off your lead but on the other hand, you’re happy to have been up by 42 in the first place.”
Barry Shetzer led six double-figure scorers for West Liberty with 19 points while Alex Falk and John Wolosinczuk added 14 and 13 points, respectively. Jordan Fortney and Chris Morrow chipped in with a dozen each while Mark Shadowens rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points.
Hickman Simmons led all scorers with 23 points for Bluefield State while Bryan Tingle added 20 in a losing cause.
“The key to competing in this league is giving your best effort every night,” Crutchfield said. “You play so many games in a short span of time that you really have to discipline yourself to play through the physical and mental challenges. That’s a lesson our older guys have learned and games like this are part of the learning process for our younger guys.”
West Liberty faces another quick turnaround on Saturday when Concord comes to the ASRC for a 4 p.m. tipoff.
The Hilltoppers beat the Mountain Lions, 149-93, in Athens on Nov. 20 but Crutchfield expects a much tougher challenge in the rematch.
“They’ve been stringing some wins together and they’re back over .500 now plus they’ll be pretty well rested after having their game postponed tonight,” Crutchfield said. “We have less than 48 hours to put tonight’s game behind us and get ready to rise to the challenge again.”
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