Men's Basketball | 2/27/2018 4:00:00 PM

    BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – Three members of the nationally-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team earned All-Mountain East Conference honors and the Hilltoppers also claimed two of the league's major awards on Tuesday when the MEC coaches released the 2017-18 All-MEC honor roll.
    The coaches tabbed first-year head man Ben Howlett as the MEC Coach of the Year while selecting redshirt freshman guard Dalton Bolon as the MEC Freshman of the Year after seeing the Black and Gold roll to their eighth conference title in the past nine seasons with a sparkling 25-2 regular-season mark.
    Senior guard Dan Monteroso earned his second straight first-team All-MEC berth with Bolon collecting second-team honors and senior backcourter Jordan Watson earning honorable mention.
    A long-time West Liberty assistant, Howlett didn't miss a beat when he was handed the keys to the Black and Gold machine this season. The former All-Region guard had the Hilltoppers in mid-season form by the season opener and WLU never looked back after opening the season on an 18-game winning streak. West Liberty vaulted into the national Top 10 by Thanksgiving and stayed there for the rest of the season – including a couple of weeks as the nation's No. 1-ranked team.
    Howlett's 25 wins shattered a 66-year-old record for most wins by a West Liberty head coach and his Hilltoppers – the only team in the nation to average more than 100 points per game (106.7 ppg.) – have already clinched the school's 10^th national scoring title in the last 13 seasons.
    Bolon, a 6-4 guard from Gnadenhutten, Ohio, was featured on the NCAA website midway through the season as one of NCAA Division II's top impact freshmen and more than lived up to the billing. Bolon is the third-leading scorer in the nation (16.9 ppg.) among all NCAA Division II freshmen while his 85 3-point bombs lead the Hilltoppers and rank No. 2 nationally among freshmen. He's had 23 double-figure scoring games, seven with 20 or more points and a season-high 30 points at Davis and Elkins.
    Monteroso, a 6-3 senior guard from St. Clairsville, Ohio, is leading the nation's highest scoring team in scoring (19.3 ppg.) for the second straight season and has already blown past the 1,000-point career mark in less than two full seasons on the hilltop. The preseason All-American and returning NCAA Division II Academic All-American has hit double-figures in all 27 games this year with 12 games of 20 or more points and a West Liberty season-high 31 points against Notre Dame. He tied a school record earlier this season with an NCAA Division II season-high 9 steals at Davis & Elkins.
    Watson, a 6-2 senior shooting guard from Philadelphia, Pa., made an immediate impact on the WLU program in his first season after transferring from NCAA Division II Lincoln (Pa.). Watson averages 11.3 ppg. as the first guard off the bench and is second on the team with 59 3-point field goals, shooting a blistering 46 percent from behind the arc. He's had 18 double-figure scoring games with 20-point nights against West Virginia State and Glenville State.
    Monteroso and Wheeling Jesuit's Pat Moseh were the only repeat first-team All-MEC selections. Rounding out the first-team unit are WJU's Haywood Highsmith, Charleston's Keir Anderson, UVa-Wise's Taiwo Badmus, Concord's Tommy Bolte, Shepherd's A.J. Carr and Pat Johnson-Agwu of West Virginia State. Highsmith was named MEC Player of the Year.
    West Liberty received a bye through the first round of this week's MEC Tournament and won't return to the court until Friday night. The top-seeded Hilltoppers play in Friday's 6 p.m. quarterfinal against the winner of Wednesday's first-round tilt between No. 8 seed W.Va. State and No. 9 seed W.Va. Wesleyan.
    Player of the Year: Haywood Highsmith (Wheeling Jesuit)
Freshman of the Year: Dalton Bolon (West Liberty)
Coach of the Year: Ben Howlett (West Liberty)    Name                                   School                               Cl.        Pos.         Ht.        Hometown
Keir Anderson                   Charleston                       Sr.              G         6-3        Buffalo, N.Y.
Taiwo Badmus                  UVa-Wise                         Sr.               F         6-7        London, England
Tommy Bolte                    Concord                            Jr.              G         6-1        Chillicothe, Ohio
A.J. Carr                               Shepherd                         Sr.               F         6-6        Fairfax, Va.
Haywood Highsmith       Wheeling Jesuit             Sr.               F         6-6        Baltimore, Md.
Pat Johnson-Agwu          W.Va. State                     Jr.               F         6-5        Bowie, Md.
DAN MONTEROSO          WEST LIBERTY                SR.            G         6-3        ST. CLAIRSVILLE, OHIO
Pat Moseh                          Wheeling Jesuit             Sr.              G         6-6        Springfield, Va. Name                                   School                               Cl.        Pos.         Ht.        Hometown
Aaron Ariri                          W.Va. Wesleyan            Sr.               F         6-8        Brampton, Ontario
DALTON BOLON              WEST LIBERTY                FR.             G         6-4        GNADENHUTTEN, OHIO
Preston Boswell               Wheeling Jesuit             So.             G         6-2        New Martinsville, W.Va.
Caleb Davis                         Fairmont State               Sr.              G         6-2        Charlotte, N.C.
Jason Jolly                           Fairmont State               Jr.              G         5-7        Ashburn, Va.
Vonte Montgomery       Fairmont State               Jr.              G         6-1        Cleveland, Ohio
Darhius Nunn                    Glenville State                So.             G      5-10        Fairmont, W.Va.
Michal Seals                      UVa-Wise                         So.             G      5-10        Lancaster, Pa. Name                                   School                               Cl.        Pos.         Ht.        Hometown
Malik Jacobs                      Urbana                              Jr.               F         6-2        Fairborn, Ohio
Thomas Lang                     Shepherd                         So.             G         6-0        New Market, Md.
Kyauta Taylor                    Notre Dame                    Sr.              G         6-2        Cleveland, Ohio
JORDAN WATSON          WEST LIBERTY                SR.            G         6-2        PHILADELPHIA, PA.