WEST LIBERTY \u2013 Unbeaten and No. 1-ranked West Liberty rolled to its 18th consecutive win Saturday, burying Concord, 133-82, beneath an avalanche of 3-point field goals at the ASRC.<\/p>\n
The Hilltoppers (18-0, 14-0) averaged nearly one 3-pointer a minute during the first half while racing to a 39-point lead at intermission and finished the afternoon hitting 25-of-46 shots from behind the 3-point arc in another blowout win against the Mountain Lions (8-8, 5-7).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played really well in all areas today,\u201d said head coach Jim Crutchfield. \u201cWe took care of the basketball, we shared the basketball and we shot the basketball pretty well. When we\u2019re solid in those three areas, we\u2019re pretty hard to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long for the nation\u2019s highest-scoring team to locate the gas pedal after Barry Shetzer put WLU ahead to stay, 6-4, with a running jumper at 17:37 of the opening half.<\/p>\n
Shetzer\u2019s runner fueled a 17-2 run by the hosts which featured five consecutive 3-point field goals in a 3-minute span. That pushed the Hilltoppers\u2019 lead out to 21-6 and, with 14:24 still showing on the first-half clock, the rout was on.<\/p>\n
With 3-pointers raining down from all points on the floor, West Liberty ran away to an 84-45 halftime lead and kept right on rolling when play resumed. Despite liberal substitutions, the margin continued to grow steadily before hitting a game-high 51 points on Nick Brown\u2019s 3-pointer in the final minute.<\/p>\n
Jordan Fortney, who leads the nation in 3-point field goals, led West Liberty with 24 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals in just 23 minutes of game time. Alex Falk and Shetzer added 17 and 16 points, respectively, while Corey Pelle had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.<\/p>\n
Also hitting double-figures in the scoring column were John Wolosinczuk with 15 points, Tim Hausfeld with 12 and Keene Cockburn with 11.<\/p>\n
Eight different Hilltoppers made at least one 3-point shot but Crutchfield was quick to note that 11 of the 12 West Liberty players who dressed were charted with at least one assist as WLU was charted with 39 for the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes me happier than the 3-point numbers,\u201d said the coach. \u201cThat makes three of the last four games we\u2019ve had more than 30 assists, which means we\u2019re doing a very good job of sharing the basketball. A lot of our guys have been playing together for three or four years and we look like a team whose players know each other very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Javaughn Acree-Manuel and Corey Neeley had 21 points each to lead Concord while Rick Alderman added 17 points and a game-high 9 rebounds in a losing cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was our fifth game in 11 days,\u201d Crutchfield said, \u201cbut I thought our guys looked pretty fresh out there. Now it\u2019s our turn to get back in the van and drive 4 hours to play people but our guys have been around long enough to know how to prepare.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very pleased with where we are right now as a team. We just need to keep building on the foundation we\u2019ve laid.\u201d<\/p>\n
West Liberty hits the road Wednesday to take on Shepherd. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. at the Rams\u2019 Butcher Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WEST LIBERTY \u2013 Unbeaten and No. 1-ranked West Liberty rolled to its 18th consecutive win Saturday, burying Concord, 133-82, beneath an avalanche of 3-point field goals at the ASRC. The Hilltoppers (18-0, 14-0) averaged nearly one 3-pointer a minute during the first half while racing to a 39-point lead at intermission and finished the afternoon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college"],"yoast_head":"\n