WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 3-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team forced 23 turnovers and drained 8 3-pointers while racing out to a 77-35 lead against Ohio Valley Wednesday night at the ASRC – and then took a 15-minute break for halftime.

Coach Jim Crutchfield's unbeaten Hilltoppers (3-0) picked up where they left off when play resumed, finishing off a 126-68 rout of the Fighting Scots (1-2) with six double-figure scorers and three players with double-doubles.

Crutchfield, whose team is averaging 116 points a night while forcing 30 turnovers a game after its first three outings, was pleased with the way his team rose to the challenge against an Ohio Valley squad that had battled MEC rival Wheeling Jesuit to the wire in a 78-74 thriller on Tuesday night.

"I thought the way we played in the first half was worth the price of admission," Crutchfield said. "We really came out of the blocks with great intensity at both ends of the floor and it wasn't just three or four guys. Everybody got involved and that's what a coach wants to see."

What the coach, and another near-capacity crowd, saw on Wednesday was a blowout from the opening tap.

With the Hilltopper pressure clicking on all cylinders, All-American Seger Bonifant followed in his own missed shot to produce West Liberty's first double-digit lead, 14-4, less than 2 ½ minutes into the game and the Black and Gold never looked back.

The margin hit 21 points, 29-8, on a Devin Hoehn jumper at the 14:06 mark and entered the 30s at 40-9 on another Bonifant follow shot with 11:19 still showing on the first half clock.

The Hilltoppers kept on rolling to the 42-point halftime advantage before coasting home in the second half.

"The thing I liked most about tonight is that we played well as a team," Crutchfield said. "We played good team defense, we played good team offense and we played with great intensity. With conference play right around the corner, that's really important. We have to bring that level of intensity and focus to the floor every night."

Bonifant led all scorers with 30 points – including a 6-for-10 showing from the 3-point arc – and had a double-double with a career record-tying 11 rebounds. Joining Bonifant in the double-double party were junior post Zac Grossenbacher with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds and freshman guard David Dennis, who finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals and threw in a pair of blocked shots for good measure.

"It was good to see Seger going to the boards like that," Crutchfield said. "He's really expanded his game. Dennis is a very good rebounding guard who's making a pretty good transition to the college game. He checks off a lot of boxes on the stat sheet."

Tyler Primmer added 10 points off the bench while Hoehn, still on the rebound from off-season surgery, checked in with 15 points and 6 rebounds in 18 minutes of action.

"I thought Devin played with a little more intensity tonight," Crutchfield said of his second-team All-MEC junior backcourter. "It looks like he's starting to round into form and that's good to see. We'll need to have him back to his old self once we get into conference play."

Darryl Walker had 20 points and 9 rebounds to lead OVU. Kelvin Toma and Avery Williams also hit double-figures with 17 and 12 points, respectively.

The Hilltoppers hit the road on Saturday for a mutual MEC opener at Notre Dame (Ohio).