WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Unbeaten and No. 1-ranked West Liberty stunned a pesky Central State squad with a 19-2 burst early in the second half and pulled away to a 113-90 victory Wednesday night at the ASRC.

Coach Jim Crutchfield's Hilltoppers (10-0) never trailed after the 10-minute mark of the opening half but the upset-minded Marauders (1-5) never backed down. The maroon-clad visitors ran with the nation's highest-scoring team for the rest of the first half and trailed just 57-52 at the break.

"We shot the ball well tonight and did a pretty good job executing on the offensive end," Crutchfield said, "but this wasn't one of our better defensive efforts. I thought if we could put five or six stops together, we'd be able to open things up and that's finally what happened."

West Liberty was clinging to a 61-59 lead a couple of minutes into the second half when the floodgates opened.

David Dennis, Seger Bonifant and Devin Hoehn wrapped back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers around a trio of defensive stops and what had been a one-possession game was suddenly a double-digit Hilltopper lead with more on the way.

Following a Brady Arnold jumper, CSU's Akil Cornish tried to stop the bleeding with a 3-pointer of his own but it was too little, too late.

Mike Lamberti answered with a rebound hoop in transition before Bonifant followed with a conventional 3-point play and a dagger of a 3-pointer. That made it 80-62 with a little more than 12 minutes remaining and the Marauders never recovered.

"A big key for us tonight was the boost we got from our bench," Crutchfield said. "We had been a little sluggish but I though Beau Justice and Brady Arnold came in and provided the energy we needed."

West Liberty drained a season-high 20 3-point field goals on the night and shot better than 50 percent from the floor in each half.

Bonifant tied his season-high with 6 3-pointers – putting him at 299 for his career – and led all scorers with 27 points. Arnold weighed in with 16 points and a career-high 8 assists. Hoehn and Zac Grossenbacher added 14 and 13 points, respectively, and David Dennis finished with 10 points and 6 assists. Lamberti came up just short of a double-double with 9 points and 8 rebounds.

Jeremy Brown had 26 points and 9 rebounds to lead five double-figure scorers for Central State, which also got 19 points from Sterling Gilmore.

After wrapping up another unbeaten non-conference slate, the Hilltoppers get a chance to recharge their batteries since they don't take the court again until after the holidays.

"This break comes at a pretty good time for us," Crutchfield said. "We've been going at it pretty hard since August. I told the guys to take the next two weeks off and come back to campus with a lot of energy.

"We did a good job taking care of business in the non-conference part of the schedule. Now we have to get ready for conference play in one of the best Division II leagues in the nation."

West Liberty's next game is set for Jan. 4 when West Virginia State dribbles into the ASRC for a 7:30 p.m. test.