Men's Basketball | 3/2/2018 10:21:00 PM

Box Score

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Dan Monteroso tied a career-high with 40 points and No. 8-ranked West Liberty lived up to its No. 1 seed in record-setting fashion here Friday night with a 133-106 blowout of West Virginia State in a Mountain East Conference Tournament quarterfinal at the Civic Center Coliseum.
    Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (26-2) will play No. 5 seed Charleston (17-12) in Saturday's 6 p.m. MEC semifinal. The Golden Eagles beat No. 4 seed Charleston, 74-65, in Friday's late quarterfinal.
    No. 2-seeded and No. 21-ranked Wheeling Jesuit (24-5) will play No. 6 seed Concord (17-12) in the 8:15 p.m. semifinal. Jesuit coasted to a 72-58 win against UVa-Wise in Friday's first quarterfinal while the Mountain Lions stunned No. 3 seed Fairmont State, 89-84, in the other afternoon quarterfinal.
    Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (26-2) opened the second half with a 12-0 blitz and went on to pour in 78 points over the final 20 minutes to take the sting out of the Yellow Jackets (13-16) in a game that saw no less than 19 MEC Tournament team and individual records broken or tied.
    "I thought the first half was played at a pretty high level with good intensity from both teams," Howlett said. "It was a very physical game with a lot of fouls but I'm proud of the way our guys stayed focused to get a really good win."
    Leading 55-45 after a first half marred by a combined 29 personal fouls whistled against both teams, West Liberty needed just 1:46 to turn that 10-point lead into what proved to be an insurmountable 22-point deficit.
    Monteroso – who set MEC Tournament records for free throws made and attempted by going 18-for-19 from the charity stripe – was fouled on his way to the basket just 7 seconds into the second half and cashed both free throws to spark the spurt.
    The 2-time first-team All-MEC standout followed that up with a 3-pointer from the corner and two more free throws after a technical was whistled on WVSU head coach Bryan Poore following a steal by West Liberty's Eric Meininger.
    Monteroso missed on a 3-point attempt following the technical but Keegan Saben grabbed the rebound and whipped the ball over to Luke Dyer for a 3-point bomb before Monteroso capped the run with another steal leading to a Meininger layup and a 67-45 West Liberty lead with 18:17 on the clock.
    "I thought we came out with really good energy at the start of the second half," Monteroso said. "We were able to force some turnovers out of the press and made some shots that hadn't been dropping for us in the first half."
    West Virginia State never got the margin under 17 points the rest of the way as the Black and Gold poured in 78 second-half points and led by as many as 31 points down the stretch.
    Monteroso was 10-of-20 from the floor to go along with his record-setting 18-of-19 from the foul line while also contributing 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and a pair of blocked shots in just 26 minutes of action.
    "I don't really pay attention to the points and records and all that on the floor," Monteroso said. "I'm just out there trying to help my team find a way to close the game out."
    Dalton Bolon, the MEC Freshman of the Year, backed Monteroso with 20 points and 7 rebounds while Jordan Watson added 17 points off the bench and James Griffin just missed a double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds in just 18 minutes. Meininger and Nate Allen rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
    Freshman Keegan Saben made a positive impression in his first college start with a game-high 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
    "Keegan has really been practicing well and he has a real knack for causing pandemonium – in a good way – when he's on the floor," Howlett said. "He was extremely well-coached in high school so he came here with a very good understanding of what we're trying to do. I thought he gave us a really good lif           Pat Johnson-Agwu led the Yellow Jackets with 33 points while Robert Fomby and Langston Cooke added 24 and 21 points in a losing cause.
    "This was a very good win," Howlett told the media, "but we can't get too excited about it because we've got another really big game coming up in less than 24 hours against a very good team. We have to come out and play with the same intensity we showed tonight."
    Saturday's semifinal winners return to the Civic Center Sunday at 3:45 p.m. to play for the MEC Tournament title and the league's automatic bid to next week's NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional.