Men's Basketball | 2/20/2014 10:53:00 PM
Box Score WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 6-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team held West Virginia Wesleyan to just 20 first-half points Thursday night en route to a 77-61 victory at a jam-packed ASRC.
The Bobcats (17-10, 12-7), who entered the game tied for second place in the Mountain East Conference, ran the shot clock down to single digits on nearly every possession in an attempt to corral the nation's highest-scoring team but Coach Jim Crutchfield's Hilltoppers (22-2, 18-1) were unfazed.
Locking down on the defensive end, West Liberty – which clinched the MEC championship a week ago – held the Bobcats to just 2 field goals in the game's first 15 minutes and never trailed en route to the Hilltoppers' 150th win in the past 5 seasons.
"Our goal isn't to score 100 points every night," Crutchfield said. "It's to score more points than our opponent and defense is a big part of that.
"We didn't shoot the ball well from the perimeter tonight (6-for-21 from behind the 3-point arc) but we had a double-digit lead for just about the entire last 30 minutes and beat a very good basketball team by 16 points. When the shots aren't falling, we just have to work that much harder on the defensive end and I thought we did a good job of that tonight."
Wesleyan was able to keep things close at the foul line in the early going and trailed just 10-8 after a pair of T.J. Thompson free throws with 13:01 on the clock.
The Hilltoppers reeled off a 16-1 surge over the next 8 minutes with a Cedric Harris jumper pushing the lead to 26-9 at the 5:21 mark. West Liberty held the Bobcats to 0-for-8 shooting from the floor and forced 5 turnovers during the decisive run.
The Black and Gold settled for a 33-20 halftime lead and led by as many as 19 points at several junctures during the second half.
Thompson hit three consecutive 3-pointers to spark the Bobcats' only second-half challenge, trimming the deficit to 55-46 with 8:57 remaining, but West Liberty scored on its next three possessions to go up 61-46 as the clock ticked past the 7-minute mark and Wesleyan never threatened again.
Harris led all scorers with a season-high 29 points. The senior standout also tied a career-high with 6 steals and handed out a team-high 4 assists.
"Cedric had a really good all-around game tonight," Crutchfield said. "He used his strength to his advantage against their smaller guards but the thing that really impressed me was his defense.
"Thompson is one of the best 3-point shooters in the league but when he hit those three 3-pointers in the second half, Cedric spoke up in the huddle and asked if he could switch over to guard Thompson. He did a really good job on him the rest of the night."
Thompson's 20 points paced the Bobcats, who also got 18 points from Brett Ervin on 6-for-10 shooting from the 3-point arc.
West Liberty, ranked No. 1 in the Atlantic Region, returns to action Saturday afternoon with a 4 p.m. game at Glenville State. The Pioneers were seventh in this week's Atlantic Region rankings.
"With five teams from our league in the top eight of the region, we're going to see ranked teams and high-quality opponents every time we step on the court the rest of the way," Crutchfield said, "and we love it. Those are the kind of games our guys came here to play in."
GAME NOTES
X West Liberty has a 103-5 record in conference play over the past five seasons
X Crutchfield improved to 18-1 against W.Va. Wesleyan since taking the Hilltopper reins prior to the 2004-05 season
X West Liberty has won 63 of its last 64 conference games at the ASRC, dating back to the 2007-08 season
X Harris needs just 5 steals to reach the 200 mark for his Hilltopper career
X West Liberty is now 128-3 under Crutchfield when holding the opponent under 80 points
