WHEELING, W.Va. \u2013 It took a few minutes but West Liberty got its\u00a0 \u201cburst\u201d back on Saturday afternoon and that was bad news for visiting\u00a0 Glenville State.<\/p>\n
Coach Jim Crutchfield\u2019s No. 2-ranked Hilltoppers (11-0, 7-0) broke\u00a0 the game open with a 23-2 run over the final four minutes of the opening\u00a0 half and kept right on rolling to a 108-75 rout of the Pioneers (2-9,\u00a0 2-6).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went to the bench a little earlier today than we have been,\u201d\u00a0 Crutchfield said, \u201cbut we wanted to keep the pressure on Glenville and\u00a0 try to wear them down. <\/p>\n
\u201cGive them credit because they had some\u00a0 guys make some shots early despite the pressure but we finally reaped\u00a0 the benefits in the last four minutes of the first half.\u201d<\/p>\n
West Liberty never trailed but the Pioneers trailed by just a single\u00a0 point, 34-33, when the Hilltoppers launched their scoring blitz.<\/p>\n
Three-pointers by Barry Shetzer and Chris Morrow ignited a blurry-fast\u00a0 13-0 surge which stretched the margin to 47-33 as the clock turned under\u00a0 2 minutes but the Hilltoppers kept the pedal to the metal.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Bevins tried to stop the bleeding with a short jumper but\u00a0 Shetzer rained home another 3-pointer and West Liberty added four\u00a0 straight foul tosses by Tim Hausfeld and Mark Shadowens for a 54-35 lead\u00a0 in the waning seconds of the first half.<\/p>\n
Hausfeld then applied the coup de grace with a 24-foot bomb just\u00a0 ahead of the buzzer to send the Hilltoppers racing off the court with a\u00a0 57-35 lead.<\/p>\n
West Liberty picked up where it had left off when\u00a0 play resumed and the margin stretched as high as 40 points as the hosts\u00a0 coasted down the stretch.<\/p>\n
Jordan Fortney hit his first three shots from behind the 3-point arc\u00a0 in the game\u2019s first 90 seconds and went to lead the Hilltoppers with 22\u00a0 points. Shetzer added 17 points while Hausfeld and Shadowens added 11\u00a0 each. Morrow rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points.<\/p>\n
Justin Caldwell scored a game-high 24 points for the Pioneers while Nick Dent added 21.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s win kept West Liberty comfortably atop the West Virginia\u00a0 Conference standings but Crutchfield is expecting quite a challenge as\u00a0 the Hilltoppers embark on a lengthy road swing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at a serious 4-game road trip and all four of the\u00a0 teams we\u2019re playing are playing really well right now,\u201d Crutchfield\u00a0 said. \u201cLike most teams, we\u2019re more confident playing at home but we\u2019re\u00a0 going to have to prove we can play with that same confidence on the road\u00a0 for the next couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
West Liberty\u2019s road trip starts Thursday night with a 7:30 p.m. game at Fairmont State.<\/p>\n
GAME NOTES<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 X Wayne State (Mich.) upset No. 1 Findlay (Ohio) by a 91-68 score\u00a0 Saturday afternoon. As a result, West Liberty is likely to take over the\u00a0 No. 1 ranking in the national NCAA Division II coaches\u2019 poll this week.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 X Corey Pelle was held to a season-low 4 points but handed out 9\u00a0 assists to become only the third Hilltopper ever to pass the 500-assist\u00a0 career milestone.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 X West Liberty has not trailed in the second half of any game this season.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WHEELING, W.Va. \u2013 It took a few minutes but West Liberty got its\u00a0 \u201cburst\u201d back on Saturday afternoon and that was bad news for visiting\u00a0 Glenville State. Coach Jim Crutchfield\u2019s No. 2-ranked Hilltoppers (11-0, 7-0) broke\u00a0 the game open with a 23-2 run over the final four minutes of the opening\u00a0 half and kept right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college"],"yoast_head":"\n