WEST LIBERTY, WV – The No. 3-ranked West Liberty University men’s basketball team came out firing at the start of the second half here Tuesday night and ran away to a 106-76 victory against Seton Hill at the ASRC.
The visiting Griffins (6-9, 4-7) were able to keep things close for much of the first half and trailed just 50-45 before Tim Hausfeld beat the halftime buzzer with a 28-foot bomb to send West Liberty (15-1, 10-0) into the locker room with a 53-45 lead.
The Hilltoppers picked up where they left off when play resumed. They opened the final frame with a Chris Morrow 3-pointer and Alex Falk followed seconds later with an uncontested layup after swiping the in-bounds pass.
That pushed the margin out to 58-45 and Seton Hill never recovered. West Liberty’s lead never dropped below double-digits again as the Hilltoppers rolled to their WVIAC-record 50th consecutive conference victory.
“That little stretch at the end of the first half and beginning of the second half was huge,” Hilltopper head coach Jim Crutchfield said. “Timmy’s 3-pointer gave us a little breathing room with an 8-point lead and then we hit a 3-pointer on the first possession of the second half and followed that up with a quick steal and a layup.
“If they had scored the first 5 points of the half, we’re looking at a 3-point game but when we scored the first 5 points, that puts us up by 13 and now it’s a completely different game.”
Freshman Shawn Dyer came off the bench to lead all scorers with a game-high 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the floor.
Cedric Harris backed Dyer with 16 points while Alex Falk finished with 14, Hausfeld added a dozen and Keene Cockburn chipped in with 10 for a well-balanced Hilltopper team that got 49 of its 106 points off the bench.
“We had a lot of new faces to work into the rotation at the start of the year,” Crutchfield said, “but they’re becoming more and more comfortable with what we’re doing. It’s to the point now where we have 8, 9 or 10 guys who can step onto the court and fit right into the flow.
“The opportunities came Shawn’s way tonight and he did a great job taking advantage of them while staying within himself and not trying to force things. Forty-nine points is a lot of points off the bench so you know we had a lot of guys making positive contributions.”
Chris Giles led Seton Hill with 21 points while Andrew Cressler added 18 and Matt Miller chipped in with 13.
West Liberty returns to action Saturday afternoon when the Hilltoppers host West Virginia Wesleyan in a 4 p.m. game at the ASRC.
GAME NOTES
X The Hilltoppers improved to 9-1 all-time against Seton Hill
X West Liberty is now 69-1 in its last 70 WVIAC games
X This was the Hilltoppers’ 112th game with 100 points or more during the Crutchfield Era. West Liberty is 103-9 in those games
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