WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Fresh off an NCAA Division II-best 13th consecutive NCAA Tournament berth and fifth straight Mountain East Conference title, West Liberty men's basketball coach Ben Howlett is already reloading for the 2022-23 season.
     Howlett, the reigning MEC Coach of the Year after leading the 2021-22 Hilltoppers to a No. 2 finish in the final NABC National Top 25, has started his off-season with a bang by adding three new faces to the Black and Gold fold.
     Steve Cannady is a 6-1 graduate transfer guard from Mercyhurst (Pa.) with more than 1,000 collegiate points under his belt. Alek West, a 6-4 shooting guard, averaged 16.0 ppg. at Ohio Dominican last year and has two years of eligibility remaining. Fin Woodward is a 6-7 power forward from England who played at a nationally-ranked prep school in the states this season.
     "This class checks a lot of the boxes that we look for at West Liberty," Howlett said. "In addition to being extremely coachable and very team-oriented, they all bring great skill sets to the program and have the ability to play multiple positions. What really gets us excited is the impression they made on us as individuals. These are guys you just enjoy being around day in and day out. Highly competitive, they bring a level of maturity and toughness to the hilltop and we can't wait to start working with them."
     Cannady, a native of Bowie, Md., transferred to Mercyhurst after his freshman year at Wheeling and played a key role on back-to-back NCAA Tournament teams for the Lakers. He's scored 1,020 career points with 145 3-pointers, shooting 80 percent from the foul line and just under 40 percent from the 3-point arc. He hit double-figures 18 times for the Lakers last season, highlighted by a career-high 29 points in a late-season games against a California (Pa.) team that advanced to the Sweet 16.
     "Steve is a shifty scoring guard who comes to us from an elite program," Howlett said. "We were very familiar with him after playing against him at Wheeling during his freshman year and think his speed will help us at both ends of the court."
     West, who played his high school ball at Sylvania (Ohio) Northview, was a stat sheet stuffer at ODU last season, averaging 6.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists along with his 16.0 ppg. He had 22 double-figure scoring games and led the nation with 2 triple-doubles, including a 28-point, 10-rebound and 10-assist night in a win over Salem. He's scored 668 points in 54 career games.
     "Alek is a veteran guard who has enjoyed consistent success at our level," Howlett said. "He has an extremely versatile skill set and fills up the stat sheet every night. We can feel comfortable putting him at multiple positions on the floor."
     Woodward, a native of Bristol, England who packs a solid 220 pounds on his 6-7 frame, shot up the recruiting charts after a stellar prep season at nationally-ranked Spire Institute and Academy. Before coming to America, the lefty power forward was a double-figure scorer for Scotland's Under-16 National Team, won a national schools title at Bristol Metro Academy and averaged a double-double in Bristol's Elite Academy Basketball League. He's also an outstanding student who maintained a weighted 4.00 GPA with advanced placement classes at Spire.
     "Fin is a prototypical West Liberty 'big.' He can do a little bit of everything because he's highly skilled and has the ability to score at all three levels. We're excited to have the chance to coach him and are looking forward to seeing him continue his development when we hit the court in the fall."