WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – After winning the school’s first West Virginia Conference championship in nearly a half-century and being ranked No. 10 in the country with a 27-2 record, it came as no surprise when the West Liberty men’s basketball team was picked to host this weekend’s NCAA Division II Atlantic Sub-Regional tournament.
“We’re pretty excited about it,” head coach Jim Crutchfield said. “It’s a great opportunity to showcase our program and our university plus it creates a lot of positive publicity for the Ohio Valley with all of these people coming in and enjoying the hospitality. We’re really looking forward to it.”
The Hilltoppers, who earned the region’s No. 2 seed, will play No. 7 seed Alderson-Broaddus (24-6) Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the second game of a doubleheader at the ASRC.
No. 3 seed St. Augustine’s, N.C. (26-4) and No. 6 seed Kutztown, Pa. (23-7) meet in the first game at 5 p.m. Saturday’s two winners return to the ASRC Sunday at 7 p.m. for a regional semifinal.
Tickets for each session are priced at $10 for adults and $5 for students with ID.
Crutchfield doesn’t think playing at home will give his high-flying hosts a huge edge this weekend but admits it’s much better than the alternative.
“Playing at home is probably a slight advantage,” Crutchfield said, “but maybe not as much as you’d think. You still have to go out on the floor and win the game and at this level, you’re going have to beat a great team the first night and they just keep getting better the farther you go.”
The Hilltoppers have a history of playing well at home. They’re currently riding a 29-game winning streak at the ASRC and have won 39 of their last 40 home games over the past three years.
“There’s a little bit of a comfort factor in playing where you practice,” he said, “but we haven’t lost too many games wherever we played the past few seasons. We have won some tough games at home and A-B was one of the toughest.”
West Liberty and Alderson-Broaddus met on Feb. 4 at the ASRC. The Hilltoppers snapped the Battlers’ 15-game winning streak with an 89-82 victory.
Corey Pelle had a game-high 28 points for West Liberty while Mike Mathey added 21 points and 10 assists and Jordan Fortney chipped in with 19 points. Jamar Board and Carl Buck led A-B with 18 and 17 points, respectively.
“Alderson-Broaddus matches up very well with us defensively,” Crutchfield said. “Coach (Greg) Zimmerman does a great job with them. They make it very hard for us to score.”
West Liberty has six players averaging in double-figures, led by the All-Region guard tandem of Pelle (17.4 ppg.) and Mathey (16.1 ppg.). Barry Shetzer, who scored 37 points in Saturday’s 108-107 loss to W.Va. State in the WVIAC tournament finals, averages 14.6 ppg. with John Wolosinczuk (13.6), Jordan Fortney (13.2) , Scott Mirich (11.6) and Alex Falk (6.2) rounding out the heart of the Hilltopper rotation.
The Battlers are led by WVIAC Player of the Year Terrell Eargle, a 6-4 senior guard who averages a double-double at 15.1 ppg. and 10.9 rpg. Board, a sophomore guard, leads the team in scoring at 20.9 ppg. and leads the nation with nearly 5 3-point field goals per game. Buck (12.5 ppg.), Mark Summerfield (10.3) and Garrett Putman (6.2) are the other three starters.
“We were very disappointed after the loss to State in the championship game,” Crutchfield said. “We came back stronger than ever after they beat us the first time back in December and we’ve talked about doing that again at practice all week.
“The best thing about our team this year has been their ability to bring a great desire to win to the court with them every time we play. That’s what you need to carry you through in the postseason and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing that again on Saturday.”
NCAA NOTES
X The game also matches two of the top NCAA Division II coaches in the nation. Crutchfield ranks No. 2 nationally in career winning percentage (140-38, .787) after six seasons at WLU while Zimmerman is No. 3 (223-61, .785).
X St. Augustine’s Lonnie Blow (CIAA) and Crutchfield (WVIAC) earned Coach of the Year honors in their respective leagues
St. Augustine’s swept the CIAA regular-season and tournament championships to earn its fourth NCAA Tournament trip and its first since 1997
X Kutztown senior guard Stephen Dennis was named Atlantic Region Player of the Year after leading the nation in scoring at 26.6 ppg.
X Kutztown opened the season on a 14-game winning streak and was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally before cooling off down the stretch.
