CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Top-seeded West Liberty grabbed the lead just 4 seconds after the opening tip here Friday night and never gave it up, coasting to an 89-75 victory against No. 8-seed Shepherd in a Mountain East Conference Tournament quarterfinal at the Civic Center Coliseum.

Coach Jim Crutchfield's Hilltoppers (26-2), ranked No. 4 in the nation, forced the Rams (15-15) into 14 first-half turnovers and led by as many as 25 points midway through the second half in coasting to their 18th consecutive win against the Eastern Panhandle school.

West Liberty advances to Saturday's 6 p.m. semifinal against the survivor of Friday's late quarterfinal contest between No. 4 seed Charleston (19-9) and No. 5 seed Glenville State (19-10).

"I thought we had pretty good pressure tonight and were able to jump out early," Crutchfield said. "Give Shepherd credit. I thought we were on the verge of putting them away several times but they fought back with some nice little runs to keep us on our toes. They really played hard."

The Hilltoppers' Indiana Faithfull grabbed the opening tip on the dead run and was fouled on a layup attempt with 19:56 still showing on the first-half clock. Faithfull missed the second foul toss but Joe Lococo grabbed the rebound and Seger Bonifant cashed in a baby hook for a 3-0 lead.

West Liberty forced four Shepherd turnovers in the first 90 seconds and went to score the first 9 points of the game before the Rams finally got on the board with a pair of free throws from Gavin McTavish at 16:56.

The Hilltoppers kept the pressure on, pushing the count to 25-8 on a Brandon Smith baseline drive with 9:14 on the clock, before the Rams were able to settle in.

Shepherd spent the rest of the half chipping away at the deficit and got it down to six points, 43-37, when Ryan McTavish opened the second half with a 3-point bomb.

C.J. Hester quickly restored the double-digit margin, 48-37, with a pair of free throws and the 100th 3-point field goal of his career as the clock ticked past the 19-minute mark.

Austin Cunningham cut the gap to 50-41 with another 3-pointer at the 17:04 mark but Bonifant answered with back-to-back 3-pointers in a 30-second span and the rout was on.

Bonifant led all scorers with 24 points while Hester posted a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Zac Grossenbacher and Lococo rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

"C.J. just does whatever it takes to help you win," Crutchfield said. "He's played in more games and grabbed more rebounds than anybody in the history of the school and it's no accident that he's played in more wins. On top of that, he's a straight-A student who's already been accepted to dental school. C.J. is probably the definition of the term, 'student-athlete.' "

Cunningham and Naim Muhammad led Shepherd with 16 and 15 points, respectively.

GAME NOTES

X Crutchfield improved to 22-7 in conference tournament action during his 11 years at West Liberty

X Bonifant is leading the nation in 3-point field goal percentage this season (107-of-202, .530) and has hit his last 11 3-point attempts

X The NCAA Division II record for consecutive 3-pointers is 18, set by Dan Drews of LeMoyne during the 1993-94 season

X Bonifant is also the active NCAA Division II leader in career 3-point field goal percentage (249-458, .544)

X Hester is the leading rebounder in West Liberty history with 1,122 caroms and is No. 10 on the all-time scoring list at 1,806 points

X Bonifant's 107 3-pointers are a WLU junior record. He now stands 28th among the school's all-time scoring leaders with 1,340 points

X The Hilltoppers are 93-1 over the past six seasons when holding their opponents under 80 points