Men's Basketball | 11/14/2010 4:03:55 PM

BOX SCORE  GAME PHOTOS

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – A group of West Liberty University men's basketball parents gathered at the end of the court with cell phones held high overhead following the No. 12 Hilltoppers' home opener against Lock Haven (Pa.) at the ASRC on Sunday afternoon.

They were taking pictures of a scoreboard that was a little hard to believe.

Coach Jim Crutchfield's defending West Virginia Conference champions set WVIAC records for points scored and margin of victory against an NCAA Division II foe with a 154-48 dismantling of the outmanned Bald Eagles from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

“I was pretty happy with the way we played today and it had nothing to do with records,” said Crutchfield, who welcomed back four senior starters from last year's nationally-ranked 29-3 squad. “Everybody played hard no matter who we had on the court and we shared the ball really well.

“A lot of times in situations like this, you'll see teams getting sloppy and selfish but our guys were still passing up good shots for better shots at the end of the game. We had 57 baskets and I think just about every one of them came off a pass or a steal.”

Lock Haven (0-2) had one game under its belt, a 68-43 loss to Mansfield (Pa.) on Friday night, but the Bald Eagles simply walked into a buzzsaw on Sunday afternoon.

West Liberty's full-court pressure overwhelmed the visitors from the opening tip and the Hilltoppers had jetted out to a 14-0 lead before Lock Haven was able to hang onto the ball long enough to launch its first shot with 17:45 on the clock. It missed.

The Bald Eagles finally ended their scoring drought with a 3-pointer by Anthony Baker, cutting the lead to 14-3 at the 17:22 mark, but West Liberty responded by reeling off 24 unanswered points to take a staggering 38-3 lead with 14:01 still to play in the first half.

The Hilltoppers went on to build an 86-24 lead at intermission, setting a school record for points in a half.

None of the WLU starters played more than 14 minutes in the opening half and they all remained on the bench throughout the final 20 minutes.

“Our starters will get plenty of playing time this year,” Crutchfield said. “This was a chance to get our younger kids some extended time in game situations and I thought they handled it pretty well.”

West Liberty hit the century mark on a Mike Lopez 3-pointer at 14:05 of the second half, pushing the score to 102-28, and earned the first double-digit lead in school history, 144-44, on a Keene Cockburn rebound basket with 3:25 to play.

Nine Hilltoppers hit double figures with sophomore guard Tim Hausfeld's 20 points leading the way. Redshirt freshman Nick Brown had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds while senior forward John Wolosinczuk added 16 points in limited playing time. Redshirt freshman guard Jeff Yunetz and true freshman guard Mark Shadowens finished with 15 points each.

Baker was the only double-figure scorer for Lock Haven with 15 points.

West Liberty shot 68 percent (57-of-84) from the floor and was a sizzling 62 percent (21-of-34) from behind the 3-point arc. Nine Hilltopper players made at least one 3-point field goal, one short of the NCAA Division II record.

West Liberty is back in action at home on Tuesday against Point Park (Pa.). Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the ASRC.

Game Notes
    x Sunday's 154 points eclipsed the previous WVIAC scoring record of 146 points, set by the University of Charleston in a 146-128 victory against West Virginia State during the 1985-86 season.
    x West Liberty's previous school record was 142 points, which came last season in a 142-62 rout of Concord on Jan. 23, 2010.
    x Sunday's 106-point margin of victory was also a school record. The previous mark was the 80 points from last year's victory against Concord.
    x Two teams share the NCAA Division II record of 10 players with at least one 3-point field goal in a game. Troy (Ala.) did it first, against DeVry (Ga.) on Jan. 12, 1992. Central Oklahoma equaled the feat on Feb. 11, 2009 in a game against East Central (Okla.)
    x The record for most points scored in a game between NCAA Division II teams is 169 and it has been on the books for nearly a half-century. It was set by Stillman (Ala.) in a 169-123 victory against Miles (Ala.) on Feb. 17, 1966.