ELKINS \u2013 The No. 1-ranked West Liberty University men\u2019s basketball team wrapped up the third unbeaten regular season in West Virginia Conference history Saturday afternoon with a 101-79 romp past Davis & Elkins at the Senators\u2019 jam-packed McDonnell Center.<\/p>\n
The Hilltoppers (26-0, 22-0), who had clinched their second straight WVIAC title two weeks ago, joined Fairmont State\u2019s 1971 and 1976 squads as the only teams in league history to carry an unblemished record into the conference\u2019s post-season tournament.<\/p>\n
As the WVIAC champion, West Liberty receives a first-round bye in next week\u2019s tournament. The Hilltoppers won\u2019t play again until Thursday at 6:30 p.m. when they hit the Charleston Civic Center floor to meet the winner of Tuesday\u2019s first-round matchup between No. 8-seed Wheeling Jesuit and No. 9-seed Shepherd.<\/p>\n
Davis & Elkins (10-16, 9-13) kept things interesting throughout the opening 20 minutes in Saturday\u2019s regular-season finale.<\/p>\n
The Senators\u2019 Reggie Cook beat the buzzer with a 30-foot bomb of a 3-pointer at the end of the first half to pull the hosts within a bucket, 54-52, as they sprinted off the court.<\/p>\n
That was the smallest halftime lead of the season for West Liberty but the veteran Hilltoppers didn\u2019t even blink.<\/p>\n
When play resumed, Coach Jim Crutchfield\u2019s high-powered visitors scored 15 of the first 17 points in the second half and cut in the afterburners.<\/p>\n
The lead hit 20 points, 82-62, on a Corey Pelle steal and runout at the 11-minute mark with the coup de grace coming a few minutes later when Chris Morrow and Barry Shetzer buried back-to-back 3-pointers and Pelle followed with another steal and breakaway layup in a 40-second span.<\/p>\n
That pushed the margin out to 95-66 with just under 8 minutes remaining and the Hilltoppers cruised to their 24th double-digit victory in 26 games.<\/p>\n
Morrow came off the bench to lead all scorers with a career-high 20 points while Pelle finished with 17 points and a game-high 7 assists and Alex Falk chipped in with 16 points.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ELKINS \u2013 The No. 1-ranked West Liberty University men\u2019s basketball team wrapped up the third unbeaten regular season in West Virginia Conference history Saturday afternoon with a 101-79 romp past Davis & Elkins at the Senators\u2019 jam-packed McDonnell Center. The Hilltoppers (26-0, 22-0), who had clinched their second straight WVIAC title two weeks ago, joined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college"],"yoast_head":"\n