WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 8 ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team will look to continue its strong start to conference play when Frostburg State comes to town Wednesday night inside the ASRC.

THE BASICS
January 11, 2023 | 7:30 pm | ASRC (West Liberty, W.Va.)
Frostburg State (5-9, 1-7 MEC) vs. #8 West Liberty (13-1, 8-0 MEC)
Live stats and video links will be available here.

THE HILLTOPPERS
West Liberty extended its regular season conference win streak to 20 in a row dating back to the middle of January last season with a win over Glenville State on Saturday afternoon. A shorthanded Hilltopper squad broke a back-and-forth game open late in the second half with a 20-2 run to secure the 88-73 win over the upset-minded Pioneers.
 
The Hilltoppers are scoring the second most points per game in DII, at 99.2, and have the fifth-best scoring margin, at +19.9. They have won all but two of their games by double digits. WLU is shooting 49.8% from the floor as a team, the best in the MEC, and drains 11.9 three pointers per game, the third most in DII. West Liberty made a season-low four three pointers in the win on Saturday. The Hilltoppers have made double-digit threes in 10 games with a season-high 20 coming in the blowout win versus West Virginia Wesleyan. They are shooting 37% from deep and hoist 32.1 attempts per game beyond the arc, the most in the country.
 
The full court pressure has been working forcing 19.86 turnovers per game, the fourth most in DII. Glenville State turned it over 21 times, the seventh team to have 20-plus turnovers against the Hilltoppers. West Liberty owns a +7.9-turnover margin. Alek West is the team leader in steals with 24, while Bryce Butler and Steve Cannady each have 20.
 
The Black and Gold leads the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.85) and is second averaging 22.2 assists per game. The Hilltoppers hold spots one, two, and four in the MEC individually for assist-to-turnover ratio. Cannady leads and is eighth in DII with a 3.38, Christian Montague is second in the league at 2.80, and Butler is fourth at 1.88.
 
Butler, a junior guard, is a four-time MEC Player of the Week including being this week's recipient. He also was named the D2CIDA National Player of the Week on December 13. Butler has the most made shots of anyone in Division II, with 140 field goals, and is averaging the third-most points, at 23.7 per game. The Latrobe, Pa native pulls in a team-leading 7.0 rebounds per game, as well, and has tallied three double-doubles. Butler is coming off a 24-point outing tying for the game-high. It was his eighth straight 20-point game and as the leading scorer for WLU. The reigning MEC Player of the Year now has 12 games above 20 points with three of those reaching the 30 mark. Butler is shooting 61.7% from the floor, the second best clip in the MEC.
 
Malik McKinney tied Butler for the game-high, also tying his career-high, on Saturday with 24 points. It was his fourth straight double-digit game and seventh in the last eight outings. McKinney has made five or more free throws in each of the last four games and leads the team getting there 67 times so far this season, shooting 82.1%. On the season, McKinney is averaging 13 points and 2.9 assists per game, while shooting 53.6% from the floor.
 
Cannady, a graduate transfer from Mercyhurst, is scoring 12.1 points per game and shooting 53% from the floor. He has netted double digits in two straight and 10 total games this season. Cannady has also recorded a steal in five consecutive outings. He is one of five players shooting over 40% from three (at 43.3%).
 
Chaz Hinds is netting 54.5% of his threes in limited attempts (12-for-22), Montague is draining 49.1% (28-for-57), Zach Rasile is at 43.5% (30-for-69), and Ben Sarson is an even 40% (26-for-65) from deep.
 
Montague scored 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting last time out and has scored double digits in three straight. Saturday was just his second game without a three this season, as he averages two makes per game from long range. The junior guard leads the team averaging 4.0 assists per game.
 
Nine players average double-digit minutes for the Black and Gold with Butler leading the way at 29.6 minutes per game. Hinds earned his first start of the season on Saturday, in place of Sarson who was unavailable. It was the first lineup change of the season for WLU from the five of Montague-Cannady-McKinney-Butler-Sarson.
 
West Liberty is 7-0 at home this season, four of those were MEC games.

THE BOBCATS
Frostburg State is looking to snap a two-game losing streak and a string of six MEC losses in a row heading to the hilltop after a win in the conference opener (60-59) over West Virginia Wesleyan at home. The Bobcats picked up a pair of non-conference victories over the holiday break but began the New Year with more of the same in conference action dropping games at home to Notre Dame (83-77) and on the road to Alderson Broaddus (91-69).
 
The Bobcats are scoring 77.6 points a game and shooting 44% from the field, with a 31% mark from deep. Meanwhile opponents are dropping 84.4 points a game, shooting 45.4% from the field, and making 37.5% of their long balls. Frostburg State is nearly even in the turnover and rebounding departments with a +0.9-rebounding margin and a -0.5-turnover margin.
 
Tairell Fletcher, a 6'2" junior guard, leads the Bobcats averaging 20.3 points per game, the third most in the MEC, and is shooting 44.6% from the floor with 10 three pointers on the season. Fletcher and senior guard Agyei Edwards each average over 30 minutes per game. Edwards is netting 13.6 points per game and leads the team in three-pointers, with 25.
 
Juston Bailey is the team's leading sharpshooter, connecting on 41% of his triples and has a three in nine of the last 10 games.
 
6'9" center Jason Murphy commands the post for the Bobcats, averaging 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Murphy, a transfer from Division I NJIT, snapped a three-game double-double streak in the loss at Alderson Broaddus on Saturday.
 
Three of Frostburg State's last four conference losses have been by single digits. The Bobcats own a 3-5 record away from home overall and have come back empty handed in all four MEC road trips.

THE SERIES
The Hilltoppers own a perfect 12-0 record over the Bobcats all-time in a series that dates back to 1941-42. In a recent revival of the series since Frostburg State joined the MEC, after elevating from DIII to DII in 2019-20, the Black and Gold has won all six meetings, including three at home, averaging 123.67 points per game. Last year, WLU downed FSU 114-76 at home and 124-84 on the road.

NEXT UP
West Liberty will travel to Fairmont State for a rivalry matchup on Saturday. Tip off from Fairmont is scheduled for 4 pm.

Follow Hilltopper basketball all season online at HilltopperSports.com and on Twitter (@WLU_Hoops | @WLathletics), Instagram (@wlu_mbb | @wlu_athletics), and Facebook.