November 25, 2008 (Men's Basketball)
    (With this year's intercollegiate athletic seasons put on hold due to health concerns, let's take a look back at previous Hilltopper happenings on this date. A dozen years ago, current head men's basketball coach Ben Howlett scorched the nets for 30 points as the unbeaten Hilltoppers dropped 113 points on rival Wheeling Jesuit.)
    WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Unbeaten West Liberty closed out the Wendy's Classic in impressive fashion here Tuesday night, blasting Wheeling Jesuit, 113-80, at the Hilltoppers' Academic, Sports and Recreation Center.
    West Liberty head coach Jim Crutchfield had been concerned by his team's slow starts in the Hilltoppers' first three victories but that wasn't a problem against their archrivals.
    "We came out of the blocks tonight about as well as we have in any game since I came here," Crutchfield said. "We were playing fast; we were reacting well and we were making good decisions."
    Senior guard Ben Howlett drained two quick 3-pointers as West Liberty (4-0) needed just 3 1/2 minutes to bolt out to a 12-2 lead and Coach Danny Sancomb's talented but youthful Cardinals (1-3) never quite recovered.
    Howlett, who would finish with a game-high 30 points, fueled the early Hilltopper blitz by pouring in 15 of those lightings during the first seven minutes of the game.
    After trailing by as many as 15 points, Wheeling Jesuit began chipping away at the margin and finally got it back under double figures, 37-28, on an Adam McFerran 3-pointer with 6 minutes left in the opening half.
    The Cards were still in range, 47-34, as the clock ticked past the 4-minute mark but back-to-back 3-pointers from Corey Pelle and Barry Shetzer followed by Kameron Law's thunderous dunk off a fast break turned out the lights on the visitors.
    West Liberty closed the half on a 13-0 run to take a whopping 60-34 lead into the locker room.
    Wheeling Jesuit got the margin down to 75-60 midway through the second half but Shetzer drilled consecutive 3-pointers and the Hilltoppers reeled off 11 unanswered points in a 67-second burst to crush the rally.
    "You have to play hard and you have to play smart in this league," Sancomb said. "We didn't do either one tonight. It doesn't matter whether you're 18 or 22, effort has to come from within and we didn't have it tonight.
    "We've played four games now and we need to get better. We'll get back in the gym, work hard and learn from our mistakes."
    Howlett had plenty of support in the scoring column as three of his teammates joined him in double figures.
    John Woloscinzuk came off the bench to hit 5 3-pointers and finished with 22 points. Pelle added 17 points to go along with 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals while Shetzer chipped in with 10 markers.
    West Liberty hit 17-of-43 3-point attempts, won the battle of the boards by a 53-42 margin, came up with 15 steals and forced the Cardinals into 19 turnovers.
    McFerran paced Wheeling Jesuit with 14 points while Maqsood Harrington added 13.
    "That was the best game I can remember us playing for a while," Crutchfield said. "It was just one of those rare nights when everybody played well and this was a great night for it to happen. It's definitely going to make the turkey taste better on Thanksgiving."