Men's Basketball | 2/1/2018 10:03:00 PM

Box Score

    WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 5-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team drained 14 first-half 3-pointers and built a 30-point lead before intermission here Thursday night in sprinting past UVa-Wise, 102-67, at the ASRC.
    Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (19-1, 14-1) held a 28-18 lead over the Cavaliers (8-13, 6-9) at the midway point of the opening half before launching a 25-5 run to go up 53-23 as the clock ticked under 3 minutes.
    West Liberty carried a 61-36 lead into the halftime locker room and led by as many as 40 points while cruising into the winner's circle.
    Howlett said his squad had been chomping at the bit to get back on the court after seeing their season-opening 18-game winning streak end in heartbreaking fashion with a 98-97 loss at Fairmont State on Sunday.
    "We have a lot of guys on this team who aren't used to losing," Howlett said. "If it was up to them, we would have played this game on Tuesday but I'm proud of the way they responded. We had two really good practices and then came out tonight with great effort.
    "We shot 60 percent in the first half and had 14 3-pointers but I think all those shots came off a pass where we were getting really clean looks. We had 17 assists on 23 baskets at halftime and I have tremendous faith in all my players. If they get a clean look, they're going to knock that shot down."
    The scorebook showed yet another balanced performance from the nation's highest-scoring team. Seven players reached double-figures but nobody scored more than 16 points. With 24 minutes of playing time, freshman point guard Luke Dyer was the only Hilltopper to spend more time on the floor than on the bench.
    The smallest player on the squad, Dyer finished with 4 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds and a pair of steals to go along with zero turnovers.
    "Everyone on this team can score and everyone can shoot lights out," Dyer said. "All I have to do is drive into the paint and kick it out to a great shooter. I just try to do whatever it takes to help the team win.
    Howlett said Dyer's 6 rebounds were especially significant.
    "We're not the biggest team on the court," Howlett said, "so we've talked about gang rebounding with everybody chipping in to help. Luke's only 5-8 but he was crashing the boards like he was 6-5. That was really good to see."
    Dalton Bolon and Dan Monteroso led the scoring with 16 and 16 points, respectively, while James Griffin added 13. Eric Meininger and Brandon Smith had 11 points each while Evan French rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 markers. Jordan Watson had 9 points and Marlon Moore Jr. donated 8 points and 7 rebounds in just 14 minutes of action.
    Chance Sheffey scored a game-high 20 points for UVa-Wise, which also received 15 points from Taiwo Badmus.
    The Hilltoppers return to the ASRC on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game against Concord.