Men's Basketball | 9/22/2017 8:00:00 AM

    West Liberty University men's basketball standout Dan Monteroso has been honored as a first-team NCAA Division II Preseason All-American in Street & Smith's College Basketball Preview magazine.
    Monteroso, a 6-3 graduate student from St. Clairsville, Ohio who was the 2017 Mountain East Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, was one of only five players to earn first-team All-America status on the Street & Smith's honor roll.
    The talented wing exploded onto the NCAA Division II scene last year when he came to West Liberty after playing three seasons of Big Ten football at Purdue, becoming the only college player in the nation to lead his school's football team and basketball team in scoring.
    An All-MEC wide receiver with nearly 1,000 receiving yards and 14 TD catches, Monteroso pushed the bar even higher on the basketball court last winter. He ranked among the top scorers in the region at 18.2 ppg. and was also the Hilltoppers' second-leading rebounder with 5.6 rebounds a game as WLU rolled to its eighth consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament bid.
    The highlight of the season came when Monteroso helped lead West Liberty to the MEC Tournament title, beating eventual national runner-up Fairmont State in the championship game. The high-powered Hilltoppers finished the year ranked No. 2 nationally in scoring at 97.0 ppg. and earned their seventh straight Top 10 finish (No. 7) in the final NABC Coaches' Top 25.
    Monteroso hit double figures in 25 of his 28 outings before going down with a season-ending injury in the regional tournament. He had 13 games of 20 or more points with three 30-point games and a WLU season-high 40 points in a win at Nova Southeastern (Fla.). The sweet-shooting southpaw shot better than 60 percent (208-of-346) from the floor, made 41 percent (33-of-80) of his 3-point shots and 79 percent (78-of-99) of his free throws.
    The All-MEC and All-Region standout was a D2CCA, NABC and Basketball Times All-American but his most prestigious honor came off the court when he was selected as one of only five first-team NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Academic All-Americans. After graduating from Purdue in three years, Monteroso compiled a perfect 4.0 GPA in his first year of graduate studies at West Liberty.
    Monteroso was the only MEC player to earn a first- or second-team Preseason All-America berth on the Street & Smith's honor roll. Fellow senior Will Vorhees of Notre Dame (Ohio) was an honorable mention selection.
    The West Liberty men tip off the 2017-18 season at home on Nov. 10 when they host Cheyney (Pa.) on the first night of the MEC/PSAC Challenge at the ASRC. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
  Player                             Ht                Yr                School
Daeshon Francis          6-4              Sr.               Texas-Permian Basin
DAN MONTEROSO            6-3              SR.               WEST LIBERTY
Justin Pitts                     5-9              Sr.               NW Missouri State
Justin Reyes                  6-4              Sr.               St. Thomas Aquinas (N.Y.)
Dustin Sleva                  6-8              Sr.               Shippensburg (Pa.) Player                             Ht                Yr                School
David Chavlovich         5-11            Sr.               West Texas A&M
Charles Clark                 6-2              Sr.               Carson-Newman (Tenn.)
Elvar Fridriksson          6-0              Sr.               Barry (Fla.)
Zach Hankins                 6-10            Jr.                Ferris State (Mich.)
Jordan Spencer            6-2              Sr.               Augustana (S.D.) Player                             Ht                Yr                School
Will Vorhees                 6-8              Sr.               Notre Dame (Ohio)