Men's Basketball | 11/23/2013 10:16:00 PM
Box Score
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The No. 2-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team led wire-to-wire Saturdayafternoon in breezing to an 89-76 win at previously-unbeaten Charleston.
Coach Jim Crutchfield's Hilltoppers (4-0, 1-0) opened up a double-digit lead in the first 10 minutes and maintained that margin for most of the day, turning aside a pair of UC (3-1, 0-1) surges down the stretch.
West Liberty rolled up a 51-35 lead at intermission but the hosts tried to make a game of it when play resumed, shooting nearly 70 percent from the floor over the final 20 minutes.
The Golden Eagles whittled the lead down to six points on three occasions, the last coming on a pair of Austin Brewer free throws that cut the margin to 77-71 with 4:38 remaining.
West Liberty answered with a 12-2 run over the next three minutes to put the game on ice, 89-73, with just 1:20to go. All 12 points during the spurt came from WLU's veteran backcourt duo of Cedric Harris and Shawn Dyer.
Harris led all scorers with 26 points for West Liberty while Dyer knocked down 12 of his 18 points in the second half.
Keene Cockburn and C.J. Hester helped stake the Hilltoppers to a whopping 40-26 edge off the boards as Cockburn posted his second career double-double with 13 points and 14 boards while Hester just missed with a dozen points and 9 rebounds.
Aleksander Kesic had 23 points in a losing cause for Charleston.
West Liberty will host West Virginia State Monday night at the ASRC. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES
X Jim Crutchfield moved 200 games over the .500 mark with Saturday's win, improving to 245-45 (.845) in his 10th season with the Hilltoppers
X West Liberty improved to 115-4 (.966) over its last 119 regular-season games dating back to the 2008-09 season
X The Hilltoppers are 124-3 (.976) under Crutchfield when holding their opponents below 80 points
X Charleston was the only team to beat West Liberty during the regular season a year ago, pulling out a 101-95 decision at Eddie King Gym on Jan. 14
