WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 9-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team snapped out of its mini-slide in a big way Monday night, hammering previously-unbeaten Glenville State from start to finish in a 117-85 blowout win inside the ASRC.
    Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (5-3) raced out to a double-digit lead midway through the opening half and never took their foot off the gas in knocking the Pioneers (5-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten.
    "It has been a tough couple of weeks," Howlett said, "but I'm really proud of our guys for the maturity they've shown in dealing with the adversity and their continued commitment to playing the game the way we want to play. It's taking a little longer than we would have liked but we're getting there."
    Passing was the name of the game for the Black and Gold on Monday. Barely 48 hours after being charted with a season-low 6 assists in a 78-74 loss at Charleston, the Hilltoppers assisted on 16 of 21 field goals in the first half alone in building a 53-35 lead.
    That theme continued to play out over the final 20 minutes as West Liberty tied a season high with 31 assists on 42 field goals – a major factor in shooting 53 percent (42-of-79) from the floor.
    "Absolutely," Howlett said. "For the last two days, we've talking non-stop about more passing, better spacing and much less dribbling and the guys responded in a big way. We're a good basketball team and these are the things we need to do in order to be good every night."
    Any hopes of a Glenville comeback faded quickly when play resumed in the second half as the Hilltoppers hit six of their first seven shots from the floor to open up a 23-point lead - 64-41 - on a Dalton Bolon 3-pointer less than three minutes into the half.
    The margin never dropped below 20 points again as the hosts pulled away.
    Bolon finished with a game-high 26 points while Pat Robinson added 20 and Will Yoakum finished with 18. Bryce Butler made a run at a double-double with 10 points and 8 rebounds with true freshman Elijah Watson adding 10 points – including three dunks – while grabbing 5 boards.
    Senior guard Luke Dyer turned in yet another masterful performance at the point with a career-high 12 assists and zero turnovers in just 21 minutes of court time.
    John Williams paced five double-figure scorers for Glenville State with 21 points.
    The Hilltoppers are facing another quick turnaround as their next assignment is a trip to Davis & Elkins on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.