Men's Basketball | 1/24/2011 9:16:00 PM

BOX SCORE     GAME PHOTOS

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Unbeaten and No. 1-ranked West Liberty made an impressive return to the ASRC Monday night, pouring in 71 second-half points to overwhelm Davis & Elkins, 129-88, in their first home game in more than two weeks.

The improving Senators (6-11, 5-8), who had won four of their last five coming into Monday's game, battled the Hilltoppers (16-0, 12-0) on virtually even terms for the first 20 minutes before a late surge lifted the hosts to a 58-46 lead at intermission.

It was a very different story when play resumed, however, as the nation's highest-scoring team put together a 19-5 run to take a 77-50 lead in the first five minutes of the second half.

West Liberty went on to shoot better than 60 percent from the floor in the second half and the visitors never threatened again.

“Davis & Elkins is a pretty talented team,” said Hilltopper head coach Jim Crutchfield. “They were able to make us pay a little bit by beating our press in the first half but our guys have been in our system long enough that they know what's expected.

“Instead of getting out of the press, they knew we needed to step it up another notch and I thought we did that in the second half.”

Jordan Fortney led the way with a career-high 27 points, including a 7-for-11 showing from behind the 3-point arc. Barry Shetzer added 16 points, Alex Falk had 14 and Corey Pelle finished with 10. Mark Shadowens scored a career-high 21 points off the bench while Tim Hausfeld and Chris Morrow also came off the bench to add 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Fortney leads the nation in 3-point field goals individually while the Hilltoppers are No. 1 in team 3-pointers. Seven different West Liberty players hit at least one 3-point shot on Monday.

“Jordan is shooting the ball with a lot of confidence now,” Crutchfield said, “and we have a lot of guys who can shoot the three. All we have to do is keep running our stuff and we'll eventually create a good look for a good shooter.”

Tim Turner led five double-figure scorers for Davis & Elkins with 20 points.

“It's always good to get back to the ASRC,” said Crutchfield, whose Hilltoppers were coming off a 4-game road swing. “I think we probably played as well on the road as we have since I've been here but we definitely missed this place. It's great to get back in front of our home fans.”

West Liberty will be at home again Thursday night when the Hilltoppers host Bluefield State. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the ASRC.