Men's Basketball | 12/6/2017 9:40:00 PM

Box Score

    SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – Unbeaten and No. 7-ranked West Liberty stormed back from an early deficit to pound Shepherd, 99-80, here Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference tilt at the Butcher Athletic Center.
    Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (8-0, 5-0) had to overcome a strong early surge by the Rams (3-5, 2-3) in order to notch their 22nd consecutive win against the Eastern Panhandle squad.
    Stealing a page from WLU's book, Shepherd came blasting out of the box with a 3-point barrage of their own and jumped out to a 14-3 lead before the game was 2 1/2 minutes old.
    A Gavin McTavish 3-pointer - the Rams' fifth bonus bomb of the game - gave the hosts their biggest lead of the night, 21-5, with 15:36 still showing on the first half clock.
    West Liberty calmly began chipping away at the deficit and had it down to single digits with a little more than 8 minutes left in the half when a technical against the Shepherd bench helped ignite one of the Hilltoppers' patented blackouts.
    A driving layup by All-American Dan Monteroso capped a 14-0 West Liberty burst that turned a 33-24 deficit into a 38-33 lead in a 2-minute span.
    The Rams fought back to take a pair of one-point leads in the waning minutes but the Hilltoppers had the last word, closing the half on an 8-0 run.
    When Marlon Moore's buzzer-beating 3-pointer dropped through the twine, the Black and Gold sprinted into the locker room with a 53-46 advantage.
    Shepherd never got any closer the rest of the way as the Hilltoppers maintained a double-digit lead for most of the final 20 minutes.
    Monteroso tossed in 27 points and handed out 5 assists - both game-highs - to pace the Black and Gold while James Griffin had a big night with 23 points and a game-high 7 rebounds. Dalton Bolon weighed in with 19 points and 5 rebounds before fouling out and Evan French added 11 tallies off the bench.
    Winston Burgess led a balanced attack for the Rams with 21 points.
    West Liberty – now in sole possession of first place in the MEC standings after No. 9 Wheeling Jesuit's 78-74 loss at Fairmont State on Wednesday – returns home to host Fairmont State on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the ASRC.