Men's Basketball | 12/19/2017 8:50:00 PM

Box Score

    WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The unbeaten and No. 7-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team completed a perfect run through its first semester slate Tuesday night with a 119-82 blowout of the University of the District of Columbia at the ASRC.
    The biggest smiles of the night, however, had nothing to do with the final score.
    Senior point guard Brady Arnold, who is sitting out this season while undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, made his first return to campus and spent the game on the bench with his teammates.
    "I have three (chemotherapy) treatments down and three to go," said Arnold, who received a heartfelt standing ovation when he was introduced during the game. "I start No. 4 tomorrow but my blood counts are good and everything has been positive. It's really great to be back with my teammates."
    Head coach Ben Howlett said Arnold's battle has been an inspiration and a rallying point for his team.
     "Brady is the most popular guy on our team and the hardest worker we have," Howlett said. "That's why our slogan is 'Play for 10 (Arnold's jersey number). If our guys play as hard as No. 10 plays for 40 minutes every night, we're going to be a very hard team to beat."
    Howlett's Hilltoppers may not have risen to that level on Tuesday but they dominated the backboards at both ends of the court and placed seven players in double figures in coasting to their 11^th win in as many games this season.
    "We were pretty lackadaisical in the first half," Howlett said, "but we came out with great energy in the second half and put things out of reach pretty quickly."
    West Liberty led by as many as 17 points in the first half but the Firebirds (1-9) mounted a late run to close the gap to 57-47 at the half. After the break, the fired-up hosts needed less than five minutes to double that lead, 73-53, and pulled away steadily the rest of the night.
    True freshman Marlon Moore Jr. played a major role in WLU's second-half surge. The 6-5 jumping jack hit all seven of his shots from the floor, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out a pair of assists while putting a career-high 16 points in the book – all in the second half.
    "I try to bring a lot of energy to the court every night," Moore said. "Whether it's getting a tip, grabbing an offensive rebound or getting out in transition, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help us get the 'W.' "
    All-American Dan Monteroso led all scorers with 18 points while adding 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals to his ledger. Brandon Smith and James Griffin added 15 points each with Dalton Bolon tossing in 14, Jordan Watson contributing 13 and Tyler Primmer coming off the bench with 11 points.
    Maurice Waters paced four double-figure scorers for UDC with 17 points and 7 rebounds.
    "I'm very happy to be 11-0 coming out of the first semester," Howlett said, "and I think this break will be good for us. It will give the players a chance to recharge their batteries and get their legs back for conference play while the coaches go out and do some recruiting."
    West Liberty doesn't play again until Jan. 4 when the Hilltoppers head south to take on West Virginia State in a 7:30 p.m. tilt.