Men's Basketball | 1/17/2018 10:32:00 PM

Box Score

    WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The unbeaten and No. 1-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team overcame its worst shooting night of the season on Wednesday to breeze to a 93-73 victory against Urbana in Mountain East Conference action at the ASRC.
    Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (16-0, 11-0) shot 44 percent (30-of-68) from the floor and made just 6-of-25 3-point attempts on the night but still maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half in completing the season sweep of the Blue Knights (3-13, 2-9).
    "I'm glad that game is over," Howlett said. "We did not play well tonight and we certainly didn't shoot the ball well but we were still able to win by 20 so we'll definitely take it."
    Despite West Liberty's shooting woes, the Black and Gold was able to score 10 of the last 14 points of the first half to take a 46-34 advantage into the locker room. A strong defensive effort in the early minutes of the second half ensured the margin never dropped into single digits again.
    Urbana's Carlas Jackson rained in a 3-pointer as the clock ticked past the 18-minute mark to trim the Blue Knight deficit to 52-41 but WLU held the visitors without a field goal for the next 6 minutes to put the game away.
    Evan French ignited the surge with back-to-back 3-pointers off feeds from Brandon Smith and the junior guard wrapped up the 15-2 run with his fourth bonus bomb of the night, giving the Hilltoppers their biggest lead, 67-43, with just over 12 minutes remaining.
    With a crucial showdown against No. 16-ranked Wheeling Jesuit looming on Saturday, Howlett substituted freely down the stretch. Only three Hilltoppers wound up playing more than 20 minutes.
    All-American Dan Monteroso led all scorers with 25 points while French added 14 tallies and James Griffin contributed 10 points. Ethan Snapp's 12 points paced four double-figure scorers for Urbana.
    "I thought we got good looks tonight," Howlett said. "We just couldn't get the shots to fall. Give Urbana credit. Coach (Nick) Dials is doing a really good job with them and they're playing much better basketball. I think they're going to win some games the second half of the season.
    "As for us, we'll look at the tape, learn from tonight's game and get back to work tomorrow to get ready for Wheeling Jesuit."
    Tipoff time for Saturday's game at the McDonough Center is set for 4 p.m.