Men's Basketball | 1/26/2017 9:37:00 PM

Box Score CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Dan Monteroso scored all 21 of his points in the second half here Thursday night as No. 3 West Liberty pulled away to an 87-63 victory against Charleston at the Wehrle Athletic Center.
Coach Jim Crutchfield's Hilltoppers (18-1, 12-1), who had thumped the Golden Eagles (10-9, 4-9) by a 94-62 tally earlier this month, had to shake off a game first-half effort from UC to complete the season sweep.
Charleston shot better than 60 percent from the floor in a tightly-played first 20 minutes that saw 4 ties and 9 lead changes with neither team leading by more than four points.
David Dennis knocked down a 15-foot jumper to give WLU a slim 36-35 advantage at the break but it was all Hilltoppers the rest of the way.
Monteroso, the team's leading scorer at 18.7 ppg., had missed his only two shots from the floor and failed to dent the scorebook in the first half but came out with all guns blazing when play resumed.
The 6-3 Purdue transfer was a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor in the second half - including 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point arc - while also finishing with a team-high 6 rebounds.
Charleston was still within range at the 15-minute mark, trailing just 48-44, but the Hilltoppers all but put the game on ice by reeling off 13 straight points in a 94-second blitz.
After James Griffin sandwiched a pair of 3-point bombs around a Monteroso bucket on an in-bounds play, Griffin came up with a steal off the full-court press and fed Devin Hoehn for a wide-open 3-pointer.
Hoehn tacked on two more free throws following another Charleston turnover and the 48-44 lead had mushroomed into a 61-44 advantage in little more than a minute and a half.
The Golden Eagles got the lead back to single digits briefly, 65-57, on a Justin Coleman layup with just over 7 minutes left but it was too little, too late as WLU scored 22 of the game's last 28 points to win going away.
Zac Grossenbacher knocked down four 3-pointers and backed Monteroso with 16 points while Griffin finished with 13 points and 3 steals. Tyler Primmer came off the bench to join the double-digit parade with 10 points while Dennis just missed a double-double with 8 points and a game-high 9 assists.
Elliott Cole had a game-high 23 points in a losing cause for Charleston while Coleman had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds and Jonathan Tshibuy added 11 points.
West Liberty will be back home on Saturday for a 4 p.m. game against West Virginia State.