CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The No. 14 West Liberty University men's basketball team rolled to its 44th consecutive West Virginia Conference victory Thursday night, sprinting away to a 100-83 rout of previously-unbeaten Charleston on the Golden Eagles' home boards.

Coach Jim Crutchfield's Hilltoppers (6-1, 4-0) shot better than 60 percent from the floor for most of the night and led by as many as 27 points down the stretch before UC (6-1, 2-1) scored the final 10 points of the game against the WLU reserves.

The teams battled on fairly even terms for the first 10 minutes before Charleston head coach Mark Downey was whistled for a technical foul while arguing about a personal foul call against one of his players with the score tied at 24-24.

West Liberty's Cedric Harris, who had been fouled on a drive to the basket, swished four straight free throws to ignite a 14-0 Hilltopper run that put the visitors on top, 38-24, with 6 minutes left in the half. The visitors carried a 48-35 lead into the halftime break.

The Golden Eagles tried to mount a run at the start of the second half with Marco Richardson scoring UC's first 10 points of the second half in the first 1:51 of the period.

That cut the West Liberty lead to 54-45 but Tim Hausfeld answered with back-to-back 3-point bombs and C.J. Hester lobbed in another to push the margin out to 63-45 less than 90 seconds later. Charleston never threatened again.

Harris led the Hilltoppers with 22 points and 8 assists – both game-highs – while Shawn Dyer and Hester finished with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Chris Morrow had 13 points before fouling out with 9:49 remaining while Alex Falk (12) and Hausfeld (11) gave the visitors six double-figure scorers.

Richardson led six double-figure scorers for the hosts with 19 points.

West Liberty finished the night shooting 55 percent (37-of-67) from the floor, which included a 9-of-21 (43 percent) showing from behind the 3-point arc. The Hilltoppers also shot a season-best 17-of-18 (94 percent) from the foul line.

The Hilltoppers return home to host Point Park (Pa.) Sunday at 2 p.m. in the ASRC.

GAME NOTES

X West Liberty hasn't lost a WVIAC game since a 117-116 overtime setback at West Virginia State on Dec. 12, 2009

X Crutchfield has now won 10 of his 11 career meetings with Charleston

X The Golden Eagles just missed cracking last week's NCAA Division II Top 25 but were among several teams receiving votes

X Sunday's West Liberty opponent, Point Park, handed Fairmont State a 107-100 loss in the Falcons' season opener on Nov. 15