BAYAMON, P.R. \u2013 No. 1 West Liberty put another big number on the scoreboard here Tuesday night, wrapping up its two-day stay in Puerto Rico with a 124-95 rout of Puerto Rico-Bayamon on the Vaqueros’ home boards.<\/p>\n
Victor Caratini gave UPR-Bayamon (1-9) an early 2-1 lead with a short jumper on the hosts’ first possession but the Hilltoppers (10-0) answered with 14 straight points to take a 15-2 lead before the game was three minutes old and the margin never dropped below double figures the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
West Liberty had built a 22-point lead, 35-13, by the midway point of the opening period and coasted into halftime with a 66-45 advantage.<\/p>\n
The Vaqueros mounted a brief surge midway through the second half, cutting the gap to 87-73 on a Jonathan Roman 3-pointer as the clock ticked past 11 minutes, but that’s when the Hilltoppers slammed the door.<\/p>\n
Three-point bombs from Chris Morrow, Alex Falk and Tim Hausfeld highlighted a 22-3 blitz that produced the largest lead of the night, 109-76, and West Liberty coasted to its 10th win in as many outings.<\/p>\n
Falk led all scorers with 24 points but the senior All-American had plenty of help. Cedric Harris added 21 points and 5 assists while Morrow finished with 19 points. Hausfeld and C.J. Hester weighed in with 16 points each as all 11 Hilltoppers cracked the scoring column for the second consecutive night.<\/p>\n
West Liberty blistered the nets at a 57 percent clip, draining 42-of-74 shots from the floor, and forced UPR-Bayamon into 27 turnovers.<\/p>\n
Victor Caratini topped the hosts with 23 points before being carried off the court after a late-game injury. Carlos Ramos and Hector Garcia added 16 points each in a losing cause.<\/p>\n
The Black and Gold will head home to enjoy the holiday break with their families before returning to the hardwood on Jan. 3 with a 7:30 p.m. game at Davis & Elkins.<\/p>\n
GAME NOTES<\/p>\n
x The Hilltoppers were coming off a 143-77 blowout of UPR-Mayaguez on Monday afternoon<\/p>\n
x Falk vaulted into the Top 20 on West Liberty’s all-time scoring list with 1,477 points<\/p>\n
x Falk passed Bob McNabb (1,454), Eli Mumley (1,475) and Ty Crawmer (1,475) to rank 18th among the Hilltoppers’ career scoring leaders<\/p>\n
x West Liberty has shot better than 50 percent from the floor in 9 of its 10 games this season<\/p>\n
x The Hilltoppers have a 127-5 (.962) record under Crutchfield when making more than half of their shots during a game<\/p>\n
x Unbeaten and No. 22-ranked Tampa escaped with a 69-67 win at UPR-Bayamon on Sunday. West Liberty led the Vaqueros by a 66-45 margin at halftime Tuesday night<\/p>\n
x Bayamon head coach Carlos Calcano coached the Puerto Rican National Team to a 6th-place finish in the 2009 FIBA Under-19 World Championships at Auckland, N.Z.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
BAYAMON, P.R. \u2013 No. 1 West Liberty put another big number on the scoreboard here Tuesday night, wrapping up its two-day stay in Puerto Rico with a 124-95 rout of Puerto Rico-Bayamon on the Vaqueros’ home boards. Victor Caratini gave UPR-Bayamon (1-9) an early 2-1 lead with a short jumper on the hosts’ first possession […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college"],"yoast_head":"\n