GLENVILLE, W.Va. – The No. 7-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team seized control with a 26-0 first-half run and was never threatened in rolling to a 98-77 rout of Glenville State Saturday afternoon at the Waco Center.
    The win clinched at least a share of a second consecutive Mountain East Conference championship for Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (22-3, 18-2), who have now won league titles in 9 of the last 10 seasons.
    The Black and Gold was a little slow coming out of the blocks on Saturday as a Phil Bledsoe 3-pointer put the Pioneers (10-16, 5-15) on top, 11-8, at 15:33 of the opening half.
    West Liberty's Dalton Bolon tied it with a 3-pointer at the other end before putting WLU ahead to stay with a driving layup and the Hilltoppers shifted into overdrive.
    Marlon Moore capped the 26-0 blitz by banking home a 10-foot turnaround jumper as the first-half clock ticked under 9 minutes and the Black and Gold had turned the 11-8 deficit into a 34-11 lead.
    Glenville closed the gap to 44-32 at the break but West Liberty pulled away again in the second half, taking its biggest lead of the day, 91-63, on an Evan French 3-pointer with 4:44 remaining before Howlett cleared the bench.
    Bolon just missed a double-double with 21 points and 9 rebounds while senior forward Eric Meininger did have a double-double with a dozen points and a dozen rebounds.
    Yahel Hill and Will Yoakum finished with 15 points each while French added 10 points off the bench and Moore finished with 9 points and 6 rebounds.
    Bledsoe paced Glenville State with 30 points and 14 rebounds.
    The Hilltoppers return home to host Notre Dame on Wednesday night. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the ASRC.