Men's Basketball | 2/24/2017 9:21:00 AM

Box Score URBANA, Ohio – David Dennis Jr. poured in a career-high 28 points to pace six double-figure scorers and No. 7-ranked West Liberty shot a blistering 77 percent from the floor in the second half of a 121-90 blowout of Urbana Thursday night at the Grimes Center.
Coach Jim Crutchfield's Hilltoppers (25-2, 18-2) led by as many as 11 points in the first half before settling for a 58-50 advantage at the break but wasted little time putting the Blue Knights (11-16, 6-15) away when play resumed.
Dennis bookended a blurry fast 9-0 spurt with a pair of driving layups to help West Liberty open up a 76-60 lead with 14:15 remaining and the margin never dropped below double figures again.
Urbana managed one last gasp midway through the half when a short jumper by A.J. Washington cut the deficit to 86-76 with 10:03 to play but Dennis helped ignite a 13-0 WLU run to put the game on ice.
The speedy sophomore guard got things started with a pretty backdoor feed to Brady Arnold for a layup. Dennis then fed Devin Hoehn and James Griffin for back-to-back 3-pointers before tossing in a pair of charity tosses to forge a 96-76 lead with 7:42 on the clock. After another defensive stop, Dennis capped the surge by finding a wide-open Griffin for another bonus bomb and the Hilltoppers were on their way.
The Black and Gold missed only eight shots in the entire second half (26-of-34) and scorched the nets at a sizzling 62 percent (44-of-71) clip for the game in completing the season sweep of their hosts.
Dennis fell just shy of a double-double with 9 assists to go along with his game-high 28 points while adding 4 rebounds and a game-high 3 steals to his final stat sheet. Hoehn finished with 19 points and freshman Clay Guillozet notched a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Griffin just missed his own double-double with 15 points and 9 boards while Brandon Smith and Zac Grossenbacher rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Grossenbacher was also credited with 4 blocked shots, pulling him into a tie with Keene Cockburn for No. 3 all-time at West Liberty with 166 career rejections.
DeQuan Abrom led Urbana with 21 points with Jahmere Howze adding 17. Carlas Jackson and Jimmy Weinke weighed in with 16 points each in a losing cause.
West Liberty wraps up regular season play on Saturday with a 4 p.m. game at Wheeling Jesuit.