WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's basketball team held Ohio Dominican to just 20 first-half points here Saturday and headed into the holiday break on a high note with a 105-61 romp inside the ASRC.
    Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (9-3) took control early with a stunning 22-0 run and never took their foot off the gas in racing away to a 58-20 halftime lead against the shell-shocked Panthers (4-9).
    "This was probably the most complete basketball game we've played all year," Howlett said. "We passed the ball very well, our spacing was so much better than it was a couple of weeks ago and we really got after it on the boards. In addition, we did a great job defensively, especially in the first half, and created quite a bit of offense out of our defense. This was a quality team win."
    Alek West hit a 3-pointer and a short jumper to give Ohio Dominican a 5-3 lead but WLU's Jon Alessandro answered with a conventional 3-point play, putting the Hilltoppers ahead to stay, 6-5, at 18:24 of the opening half and touching off a patented West Liberty "blackout."
    The Hilltoppers held ODU scoreless over the next four minutes while scoring on eight consecutive possessions – four of them ending with a Will Yoakum 3-pointer. Luke Dyer's bonus bomb capped the 22-0 burst and gave the hosts a 25-5 lead with 14:23 still remaining in the first half.
    "I've been shooting it better in practice," Yoakum said, "and when that first shot dropped tonight, it just felt right. Coach Howlett always tells me how much confidence he has in me and my teammates did a great job finding me, especially in transition off a couple of steals."
    The Hilltoppers finished the first half with 10 steals, 10 assists and 10 3-point field goals to open up the 58-20 lead and went on to lead by as many as 49 points down the stretch. The margin never dropped below 40 points over the final 15 minutes.
    Yoakum finished with a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds – both game-highs – while Pat Robinson III added 16 points, Alessandro finished with 14 points and Malik McKinney added a dozen. True freshman Bryce Butler was charted with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals and fellow freshman Owen Hazelbaker contributed 9 points and 5 rebounds off the bench.
    McKinney, a sophomore transfer, had another strong game with 6 rebounds, a game-high 5 assists and tied for game-high honors with 3 steals. The 6-3 guard said he's becoming more comfortable with the system and takes great pride in his defensive work.
    "The press was new to me in the beginning," he said, "but I'm getting more used to it, trying to bait guys into passes, getting deflections, anything I can do. A lot of guys like to score but I really like to try to impact the game with my defense."
    Ohio Dominican was held to 37 percent (21-of-56) shooting from the floor, committed 21 turnovers and lost the rebounding battle by a 49-29 margin. West and Sam Hickey were OSU's only double-figure scorers with 11 points each.
    "We did a good job today making things tough for Ohio Dominican," Howlett said. "Obviously our press caused some problems for them and I thought our half-court defense was as solid as it has been all season. We're playing the best basketball we've played all season and that's a good feeling to take into the break with us."
    The West Liberty men don't return to action until Jan. 8, when they head south to take on Concord in a 7:30 p.m. game at the Carter Center.