SPRINGFIELD – Coach Jim Crutchfield’s No. 1-ranked West Liberty squad was the only men’s basketball team in the country at any level not to lose a game this season.
On Monday afternoon, the Hilltoppers also became the only NCAA Division II team with multiple All-America selections when senior standouts Corey Pelle and Jordan Fortney were named to the 2010-11 Daktronics NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball All-America Team.
Pelle, a 5-11 guard from Silver Grove, Ky., was a first-team All-American while Fortney, a 6-5 guard from Bowling Green, Ohio, earned third-team honors in the nationwide voting by collegiate sports information directors at NCAA Division II institutions.
Pelle, Fortney and the rest of the WLU traveling party arrived in Springfield, Mass. Monday afternoon to begin final preparations for Wednesday’s 6 p.m. Elite Eight quarterfinal against Anderson, S.C. at the MassMutual Center.
After checking into their downtown hotel, the Hilltoppers shook off some of the travel rust with a shoot-around at Butova Gymnasium on the campus of American International College in Springfield before Monday night’s Elite Eight Banquet at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Only four of this season’s 15 All-Americans made it to Springfield for the Elite Eight. The West Liberty duo is joined by Gage Daye, a 6-2 senior guard from Bloomfield (N.J.) who earned second-team All-America honors as a junior; and Jeremy Kendle, a 6-1 senior guard from No. 2-ranked Bellarmine (Ky.).
The electrifying Pelle came up big in the Hilltoppers’ run to their first Atlantic Regional title last week, leading the team in scoring with back-to-back 23-point games in the semifinals and championship game. The Atlantic Region and West Virginia Conference Player of the Year, Pelle is the leading scorer on the nation’s highest-scoring team (16.7 ppg.) and led the WVIAC in assists and steals. Also the Hilltoppers’ career leader in steals and assists, Pelle ranks No. 5 on the school’s career scoring list with 1,900 points.
Fortney averaged 14.6 points and 4.0 rebounds a game while handing out nearly 100 assists and establishing himself as one of the nation’s premier 3-point shooters. His 115 3-point field goals are a West Liberty single-season record and his average of 3.6 3-pointers a game ranks No. 3 nationally. Fortney was a first-team All-WVIAC and first-team All-Atlantic Region selection and recently became the 39th member of the Hilltoppers’ 1,000-Point Club.
Joining Pelle and Daye on the all-senior first-team unit are Parrish West of Alaska-Fairbanks, Chris Woods of Pfeiffer and Justin Keenan of Ferris State. West, the nation’s leading scorer, was named NCAA Division II Player of the Year/
The second-team unit includes seniors Justin Sedlak of Florida Tech, Blake Poole of St. Martin’s, Darius Adams of Indianapolis, Anthony Moody of Mary (N.D.) and sophomore Davion Berry of Cal State-Monterey Bay.
The three seniors joining Fortney and Kendle as third-team selections were Skyler Bowlin of Missouri Southern, Thomas Baudinet of St. Anselm and Darryl Webb of Indiana (Pa.).
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