BOX SCORE

ELKINS, W.Va. – The No. 1-ranked West Liberty University men's 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' jam-packed McDonnell Center.

The Hilltoppers (26-0, 22-0), who had clinched their second straight WVIAC title two weeks ago, joined Fairmont State's 1971 and 1976 squads as the only teams in league history to carry an unblemished record into the conference's post-season tournament.

As the WVIAC champion, West Liberty receives a first-round bye in next week's tournament. The Hilltoppers won't play again until Thursday at 6:30 p.m. when they hit the Charleston Civic Center floor to meet the winner of Tuesday's first-round matchup between No. 8-seed Wheeling Jesuit and No. 9-seed Shepherd.

Davis & Elkins (10-16, 9-13) kept things interesting throughout the opening 20 minutes in Saturday's regular-season finale.

The Senators' 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.

That was the smallest halftime lead of the season for West Liberty but the veteran Hilltoppers didn't even blink.

When play resumed, Coach Jim Crutchfield's high-powered visitors scored 15 of the first 17 points in the second half and cut in the afterburners.

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.

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.

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.

John Wolosinczuk had a huge game with 14 points and 15 rebounds while Shetzer (12) and Tim Hausfeld (10) rounded out West Liberty's double-figure scorers.

Malik Tinsley paced Davis & Elkins with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

GAME NOTES

X West Liberty's 22 league wins and the final power rating average of 200.45 points are also league records

X The previous record of 21 league wins was shared by the 1955 Alderson-Broaddus team (21-3) and last year's Hilltopper squad (21-1)

X West Liberty stretched its WVIAC regular-season winning streak to 40 games with Saturday's win

X The victory also completed a season sweep for WLU, which handed Davis & Elkins a 129-88 setback last month at the ASRC

X The Hilltoppers will be seeking their first WVIAC Tournament title since 1971

X West Liberty improved to 71-28 all-time against D&E. Crutchfield has never lost to the Senators (8-0)

X This was the 101st time the Hilltoppers have scored 100 or more points during the Crutchfield era. West Liberty is 93-8 (.921) in those games