EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. \u2013 The No. 7-ranked West Liberty University men’s basketball team won its fourth consecutive NCAA Division II Atlantic Region title here Tuesday night with a businesslike 89-82 win against No. 2 East Stroudsburg at the Warriors’ jam-packed Koehler Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n
Atlantic Region Player of the Year Cedric Harris had 21 points while C.J. Hester and Keene Cockburn each worked the paint for double-doubles as Coach Jim Crutchfield’s Hilltoppers (29-3), broke up a see-saw affair late in the first half and never trailed again.<\/p>\n
There were five ties and six lead changes in the opening period but a classic West Liberty surge over the final three minutes of the half put East Stroudsburg (30-2) on a comeback trail that proved too steep to climb.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the momentum shift came just after a Rasheed Moore 3-pointer had given ESU its largest lead of the game, 37-31, as the clock ticked under the 3-minute mark.<\/p>\n
The Hilltoppers, who had missed all but one of their 3-point tries during the first 17 minutes, suddenly dropped in three straight bonus bombs in a 71-second span. Hester, who had sparked the barrage with a trey from deep in the left corner, then capped the 11-0 blitz with a strong inside move for a 42-37 West Liberty lead.<\/p>\n
The Black and Gold carried a 44-39 lead into intermission and picked up where they had left off when play resumed. A Cockburn 3-pointer made it 51-42 less than three minutes into the second half, forcing a Warrior timeout.<\/p>\n
East Stroudsburg was unable to put a run together against a hard-working Hilltopper defense and WLU slowly eased away to its largest lead of the night, 72-59, on a Shawn Dyer 3-pointer with 9:10 remaining.<\/p>\n
Two-time All-Region guard Whis Grant heated up down the stretch, scoring 13 of his team-high 19 points in the final 7 minutes, to give West Liberty fans a few nervous moments.<\/p>\n
The ESU crowd roared its approval when Grant drew the fifth foul on Harris and drained both free throws to make it a one-possession game, 82-79, with 2:08 remaining.<\/p>\n
The Warriors got a stop at the other end, giving them a chance to tie with a 3-pointer but it didn’t happen. Grant misfired on a mid-range jumper and the 6-4 Hester not only won the rebounding battle, he fired a half-court outlet pass to a streaking Devin Hoehn for an 84-79 lead with 1:31 to go.<\/p>\n
Moore then missed a hurried 3-pointer for East Stroudsburg with Cockburn clearing the rebound. After running time off the shot clock, Dyer knifed into the lane for the back-breaker, a twisting runner that put West Liberty up, 86-79, with a minute remaining. The Hilltoppers closed out the win at the charity stripe.<\/p>\n
Harris finished with 21 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds before fouling out but West Liberty wasn’t lacking for standout performances on this night. Hester had a monster game with 16 points and 17 rebounds while Cockburn more than made his presence felt with 17 points, a dozen rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Dyer rounded out the double-figure scorers with 16 points.<\/p>\n
In a game featuring two of the most potent offenses in Division II, it was the Hilltopper defense that made the difference. West Liberty held East Stroudsburg to 34 percent shooting (30-of-88) on the night, including a 14-of-45 (31 percent) showing in the second half.<\/p>\n
Grant’s 19 points paced the hosts but the junior star was just 6-of-21 from the floor. Moore finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds while Will Brown and Lamont Tillery added 13 and 10 points, respectively.<\/p>\n
The Hilltoppers will make their fourth straight NCAA Elite Eight appearance in Evansville, Ind. next week. They will meet defending national champion Drury, Mo. (28-3) March 26 in the quarterfinals at the Ford Center. The No. 8-ranked Panthers outlasted Michigan Tech, 71-57, in Tuesday’s Midwest Regional final.<\/p>\n
GAME NOTES<\/p>\n
X Harris was voted Tournament MVP and Hester joined him on the All-Tournament Team. Grant, IUP’s Marcel Souberbielle and Mark Thomas of Livingstone rounded out the All-Tourney squad<\/p>\n
X While the Hilltoppers have drawn national attention with a 61-2 home record over the past four seasons, they are now 48-3 in games played on their opponents’ home floor during that span<\/p>\n
X Tuesday’s loss snapped a 20-game home winning streak for East Stroudsburg, which hadn’t lost a game at Koehler Fieldhouse all year<\/p>\n
X West Liberty is 16-5 all-time in NCAA Tournament play and has won 12 straight regional contests<\/p>\n
X The Hilltoppers are the first team ever to win a road game in Atlantic Region tournament play. Coming into Tuesday’s title tilt, host teams had been 19-0 since the region was formed in the 2008-09 season<\/p>\n
X Hester’s 17 rebounds pushed his career total to 891. In just three seasons, he’s already risen to No. 4 on the school’s career rebounding list<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. \u2013 The No. 7-ranked West Liberty University men’s basketball team won its fourth consecutive NCAA Division II Atlantic Region title here Tuesday night with a businesslike 89-82 win against No. 2 East Stroudsburg at the Warriors’ jam-packed Koehler Fieldhouse. Atlantic Region Player of the Year Cedric Harris had 21 points while C.J. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college"],"yoast_head":"\n