WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's basketball team never trailed here Thursday night in breezing to a 103-55 non-conference win against Ohio Valley inside the ASRC.
    Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (8-3) pushed out to a double-digit lead midway through the first half and continued to pull away from the outgunned Fighting Scots (3-9) for the rest of the evening.
    "I thought we were a little careless with the basketball at times," Howlett said, "but we created some good opportunities off our pressure and I thought our effort was pretty good. There were times tonight when we got a pretty good boost from the second rotation and I want to see that continue."
    Ohio Valley threatened to pull within striking distance late in the first half when a Keon Claiborne layup pulled the visitors within 11 points, 35-24, but a Luke Dyer 3-pointer at the other end quickly restored order.
    West Liberty went on to score 14 of the final 18 points in the waning minutes of the half and took a 49-28 lead into the locker room at intermission.
    The song remained the same in the second half. Leading 69-42 at the 10-minute media timeout, WLU went on a 12-2 blitz over the next two minutes.
    Bryce Butler closed off the run with a rebound hoop as the clock ticked past the 8-minute mark for an 81-44 Hilltopper advantage and the lead ballooned as high as 50 points coming down the stretch.
    Dalton Bolon had a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds to pace a balanced WLU attack. Pat Robinson III tossed in 17 points - highlighted by four first-half 3-pointers - while true freshman Owen Hazelbaker added a career-high 16 points.
    Malik McKinney scored all 14 of his points in the second half while Will Yoakum joined the double-figure scoring parade with 11 points. Butler, another true freshman, had a strong game off the bench with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals while junior guard Luke Dyer checked off multiple boxes with 5 points, 5 steals, 7 rebounds and a game-high 8 assists.
    Ohio Valley, which committed 25 turnovers and was held to just 33 percent (19-of-56) shooting from the floor, got 14 points from Keon Claiborne and 11 more from Dylan Harrison. Davis Adeyamo battled through foul trouble to finish with 7 points and 11 rebounds.
    The Hilltoppers posted a 22-0 edge in points off turnovers in the second half and had a 59-9 edge in points off the bench for the evening.
    "This was Owen's best game tonight," Howlett said, "and I liked what I saw from a lot of our younger guys but we still have some things we need to clean up. Now we have to get back to work for a quick turnaround with a pretty dangerous Ohio Dominican team coming in here on Saturday."
    West Liberty closes out its pre-holiday slate on Saturday when the Black and Gold hosts Ohio Dominican in a 4 p.m. game at the ASRC.