Men's Basketball | 1/11/2018 9:40:00 PM

Box Score

    WISE, Va. – The unbeaten and No. 3-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team raced out to a 22-point halftime lead here Thursday night and rolled to a 120-85 victory against UVa-Wise at the Prior Convocation Center.
    Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (14-0, 9-0) scored 13 unanswered points in a 2-minute burst midway through the first half and the host Cavaliers (6-9, 4-5) never got the margin under double-figure again.
    Leading 17-16 with a little more than 12 minutes to go before halftime, Brandon Smith ignited the West Liberty run with a steal and quick pass to Tyler Primmer for an easy layup.
    Evan French - who hit five 3-pointers in the first half - followed with back-to-back bonus bombs and Jordan Watson added another 3-pointer to make it 28-16 before Smith capped the 13-0 blitz with another steal and layup off the press.
    That pushed WLU's lead to 30-16 as the clock ticked past the 10-minute mark and the Hilltoppers kept right on rolling to take an insurmountable 56-34 lead into the locker room at the break.
    West Liberty picked up where it had left off when play resumed, leading by as many as 38 points down the stretch.
    James Griffin led seven double-figure scorers for the Black and Gold with 21 points while French finished with 17 tallies after his key first-half barrage from the arc.
    Dalton Bolon knocked down 4-of-5 3-pointers to tally 16 points while grabbing a team-high 8 rebounds. Dan Monteroso also had 16 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Watson stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists while Primmer and Eric Meininger also reached double-figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
    Craig Sheffey had a game-high 22 points in a losing cause for the hosts, who also got 20 points and 11 rebounds from Taiwo Badmus.
    The Hilltoppers face a stiff test on Saturday when they take on a Concord team that just missed upsetting No. 19 Wheeling Jesuit in a 69-67 setback on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. in Athens, W.Va.