Men's Basketball | 11/13/2016 3:45:00 AM

Box Score WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 1-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team led wire-to-wire here Saturday night in running away to a 117-91 rout of West Chester (Pa.) in the final game of the Charles and Lavoo Crutchfield Classic at the ASRC.
It was the second impressive win against a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference squad in as many nights for Coach Jim Crutchfield's high-flying Hilltoppers (2-0), who were coming off a 135-55 blowout of Cheyney (Pa.) in Friday'sseason opener.
"This was a great opening weekend for us," Crutchfield said. "We came out of the gates with two in-region wins and got a lot of quality playing time for a lot of guys. We're off to a good start."
Saturday's win wasn't quite as easy as the final score makes it appear as West Liberty – which shot better than 85 percent from the floor in the second half of Friday's victory – had to battle through an uncharacteristically chilly shooting night.
The Hilltoppers made just 2-of-14 shots from behind the 3-point arc in the first half and were just 7-for-27 from the perimeter on the night but Crutchfield saw that as a positive indicator for the Black and Gold.
"West Chester has just about everybody back from last year's NCAA Tournament team," Crutchfield said. "For us to have somewhat of an off shooting night and still be able to beat a very good basketball team by a fairly comfortable margin, that actually makes me feel better about my team."
Sophomore guard David Dennis provided the first half spark for the Hilltoppers. With the 3-point shots failing to drop, the 2016 MEC Freshman of the Year put the ball on the floor and attacked the basket. With Dennis finishing at the rim, drawing a foul or creating an open shot for a teammate, West Liberty still led by as many as 18 points in the first half before settling for a 60-50 halftime lead.
Dennis was 6-of-7 from the floor and 7-of-7 from the foul line for 19 points in the opening 20 minutes. The stellar playmaker also stuffed the stat sheet with 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
"David makes a lot of good things happen for us," Crutchfield said. "He and Zac (Grossenbacher) really stepped up at the foul line (a combined 12-for-12) in the first half, which enabled us to maintain our lead. Even though we weren't shooting well, we still had 60 points at the half so I actually felt pretty good about our offense."
West Liberty wasted little time putting the game out of reach when play resumed, opening the second half with a 17-4 burst over the first four minutes. 
A Grossenbacher 3-pointer capped the surge, pushing the lead to 77-54 with 16:11 still to play, and the Hilltoppers never looked back.
"I thought the key to the game tonight was the start of the second half," Crutchfield said. "We were able to string together some very good defensive possessions and kept working for good shots at the other end of the floor. When some of those shots started falling, we were able to create some separation."
West Chester never threatened again and the Hilltoppers led by as many as 30 points down the stretch.
Sophomore Eric Meininger poured in a career-high 24 points to lead all scorers for West Liberty. Grossenbacher finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double while Dennis made a run at a triple-double with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 7 steals.
Dan Monteroso, who had two touchdown catches for the WLU football team earlier in the day, added 16 points and 8 rebounds while Devin Hoehn and Clay Guillozet rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Malik Jackson led the Rams with 23 points while Zach Bare added 22 points and Matt Penecale chipped in with 20 points and a game-high 9 assists.
The Hilltoppers return to the ASRC boards on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. for a non-conference test against Davis & Elkins.