Men's Basketball | 1/18/2014 7:06:00 PM
Box Score WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The highest-scoring team in the nation got it done with defense Saturday afternoon as unbeaten and No. 1-ranked West Liberty held Fairmont State to 36 percent shooting in the second half in coasting to a 77-60 win at a jam-packed ASRC.
With the upset-minded Falcons (10-5, 5-4) running the shot clock down into single digits on nearly every possession, Coach Jim Crutchfield's Hilltoppers (14-0, 10-0) closed the first half on an 11-2 run to take a 35-30 lead into intermission.
"It's not like we haven't had teams hold the ball on us before," Crutchfield said. "We told our guys that defense was the name of the game for the second half. They're limiting their own shot clock to about 14-15 seconds on every trip so if we could bear down and string some stops together, we'd have a chance to open things up."
That's pretty much what happened. Fairmont had shot a blistering 61 percent (11-of-18) from the floor to keep things close in the first half but when West Liberty tightened down the defensive screws for the second half, the Falcons had no answer.
Consecutive 3-pointers from backup guards Kelvin Goodwin and Devin Hoehn produced the Hilltoppers' first double-digit lead and C.J. Hester followed with a put-back hoop to cap a 10-1 WLU run and put the hosts up, 53-39, with just under 12 minutes remaining.
"I'm starting to count on those guys coming in off the bench to hit big shots for us," Crutchfield said. "Kelvin and Devin may not start but they play with the confidence of starters and that's the level of confidence we have in them."
Fairmont continued to hold the ball on every possession until the last couple of minutes but the Hilltopper defense proved more than equal to the challenge, as the Falcons made just 11-of-30 shots from the floor in the second half en route to a season-low 60 points.
"It was a pretty good defensive effort," Crutchfield said. "Fairmont's a really good team with a lot of talented players who are really hard to guard. They've beaten a lot of good basketball teams this year and even their losses have been close. I'm just happy to come away with a win."
Goodwin and Hoehn scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, to lead West Liberty in scoring while Cedric Harris and Shawn Dyer finished with a dozen points each. The Hilltoppers shot 51 percent (28-of-55) from the floor and 44 percent (8-of-18) from the 3-point line.
Thomas Wimbush's 14 points paced four double-figure scorers for the Falcons, who also received 10 points and 14 rebounds from Trevor Andrews-Evans. Thanks to its strong first half, Fairmont shot a respectable 46 percent (22-of-48) from the floor but was just 1-of-4 behind the 3-point arc.
West Liberty returns to action Thursday with a trip to Ohio County rival Wheeling Jesuit. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the McDonough Center.
GAME NOTES
X This was Crutchfield's 300th game at West Liberty. His 255-45 (.850) winning percentage is tops in the nation among all NCAA men's coaches
X Crutchfield improved to 22-1 against Fairmont
X WLU is a perfect 75-0 over the past five seasons when holding their opponent below 80 points
X The Hilltoppers stretched their home conference winning streak to 60 games
X The 60 points are the fewest scored by a Falcon team since an 80-59 blowout at Glenville State on Jan. 26, 2012
X West Liberty has not trailed in the second half of any game this season
X The Hilltoppers have made at least one 3-pointer in 491 consecutive games
