No. 1 Hilltoppers Roll in Season Opener

Men's Basketball | 11/11/2016 10:08:00 PM

Box Score WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 1-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team got their season off to a flying start here Friday night by shooting a blistering 85 percent from the floor in the second half and racing away to a 135-55 victory against Cheyney (Pa.) in the first game of the Charles and Lavoo Crutchfield Classic.
Coach Jim Crutchfield's Hilltoppers will take on West Chester (Pa.) Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Rams, coming off an NCAA Division II Tournament run a year ago, dropped a 96-87 shootout with Notre Dame (Ohio) in the second game of Friday's doubleheader.
"This was a good way to start the season," Crutchfield said. "Everybody got to play extended minutes and the new guys got a chance to get some of the jitters out of their system."
West Liberty wasted little time taking control as an early 18-0 burst turned a 13-11 Hilltopper advantage into an insurmountable 31-11 bulge.
The hosts breezed into the locker room with a 65-28 lead before scoring 26 of the first 28 points in the second half to make it 91-30 with 13:56 still to play.
Crutchfield, who had been substituting liberally throughout, kept a constant stream of players flowing to the scorer's table but they all shared one thing in common.
They hardly ever missed.
" The best thing about the game from our standpoint," Crutchfield said, "was that even when the score got out of hand, our guys did a good job of not getting sloppy with the ball and still worked to get high-percentage shots. I guess the numbers sort of bear that out.
"We also should recognize that Cheyney's dealing with a tough situation. Their coach just got the job a month ago so he really didn't have much of a chance to recruit but even so, I thought his guys played hard."
West Liberty hit 22-of-26 shots from the floor in the second half, including a 9-of-12 showing from behind the 3-point arc, to finish the night shooting 64 percent (49-of-77). The Hilltoppers had a 49-37 edge off the glass and forced 25 turnovers while giving the ball away only 8 times. They didn't relax on defense, finishing with 16 steals and had 13 blocked shots while holding the Wolves to just 30 percent (20-of-66) shooting from the floor.
Zac Grossenbacher led the way with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots but he had plenty of company. Brandon Smith came off the bench to pour in 17 points in just 13 minutes of action and Marist transfer James Griffin had 15 points in 15 minutes. Devin Hoehn stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals while stellar point guard David Dennis weighed in with a dozen points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals.
Brady Arnold added 14 points, 5 assists and 3 steals with Purdue transfer Dan Monteroso contributing 11 points and a pair of blocks. True freshman Clay Guillozet rounded out the double-figure scorers with a dozen points in his collegiate debut.
"It was a pretty well-balanced effort," Crutchfield said. "I think we had 8 guys score in double-figures. Everybody contributed. Our job right now is to get ready for tomorrow night. West Chester is a great basketball program with just about everybody back from an NCAA Tournament team. We're going to get their best shot."

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