BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – C.J. Hester hit a couple of free throws to set a new career high with his 27th point as No. 2-ranked West Liberty opened up a 30-point lead at Bluefield State on Thursday.

A few minutes later, Hester and the rest of his teammates jogged off the court at Ned Shott Gymnasium and headed to the locker room with a 79-47 lead – at halftime.

It was that kind of night in Bluefield for the high-octane Hilltoppers (18-1, 12-0), who kept the pedal to the metal over the final 20 minutes and rolled to a 134-93 victory in a mismatch between the first-place and last-place teams in the West Virginia Conference.

The Big Blues (1-16, 0-13) was able to keep up with the nation's No. 1 scoring offense in the early going and even took a 25-24 lead on a pair of Chase Morgan free throws at the 12-minute mark of the opening half.

That turned out to be Bluefield State's only lead of the game and it lasted all of 8 seconds.

West Liberty grabbed the ball out of the net following Morgan's second foul toss and sprinted back downcourt with Shawn Dyer curling to the hoop for a layup and a 26-25 Hilltopper lead.

Dyer's hoop ignited a game-breaking 23-6 run that pushed the visitors out to a 47-31 bulge with just over 7 minutes remaining.

The lead never dropped below double figures the rest of the way and West Liberty led by as many as 43 points down the stretch in coasting to its 16th straight win.

Bluefield State had no answer for the hot-shooting Hilltoppers, who shot nearly 70 percent from the floor in the first half and hit at a 60 percent clip (48-of-80) for the game.

Crutchfield substituted liberally throughout the second half but Hester still finished with 31 points and 11 rebounds – his team-high sixth double-double of the season – to lead West Liberty.

Cedric Harris backed Hester with 25 points while Dyer finished with 19. Mark Shadowens (15), Nick Brown (13) and Keene Cockburn (10) all came off the bench to join the double-figure scorers.

Morgan topped four double-figure scorers for the Big Blues, going 11-for-12 from the foul line to finish with 19 points.

The Hilltoppers swing back into action Saturday afternoon with a 4 p.m. game at Concord.

GAME NOTES

X West Liberty junior guard Tim Hausfeld sat out Thursday's game as a precautionary measure with a sore knee

X The Hilltoppers fell just short of the WVIAC season-high for points, which they set earlier this month with a 139-74 rout of the Big Blues at the ASRC

X Hester's previous career-high of 25 points came in that Jan. 14 game against Bluefield State

X West Liberty extended its WVIAC-record conference winning streak to 53 games and has now won 63 of their last 64 league contests dating back to the 2008-09 season

X Crutchfield improved to 11-0 against Bluefield State