West Liberty, W.Va. – The No. 3 West Liberty University men's basketball team opened the season with a bang on Friday night as they cruised to a 121-59 victory over Shippensburg. The Hilltoppers scored the game's first 28 points and led by as many as 67 in the season opener.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Final Score: No. 3 West Liberty 121, Shippensburg 59
Team Records: No. 3 West Liberty 1-0, Shippensburg 0-1
Attendance: 1,045
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• John Korte opened the game with a pair of layups, the first points of his West Liberty career. Finley Woodward then secured an offensive rebound and put in a layup to make it 9-0 and force a Shippensburg timeout only two and a half minutes into the game.
• Out of the Raider timeout, Chaz Hinds knocked down back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch the lead to 18-0 with 15:19 remaining in the opening half, forcing a second Shippensburg timeout.
• The offensive barrage continued for the Black & Gold as Zach Rasile rattled off back-to-back 3-pointers off Christian Montague assists to make it 28-0 with 14:00 still remaining in the first half.
• The Raiders put their first points of the season on the board with a 3-pointer by Andrew Recchia with 12:50 left in the half.
• Shortly after a pair of free throws for Rasile made it a 32 point lead, SU put together a mini 6-3 scoring run to cut the lead to 26 points at 35-9, but WLU responded with a 12-2 run capped by a Dante Spadafora 3-pointer to lead 47-11 with 7:06 left in the half.
• West Liberty stretched the lead to as many as 40 points in the first half with a Lanyc Shuler layup with 38 seconds left off a Spadafora steal. The Raiders added one layup in the closing seconds and WLU led 67-29 at halftime.
• Christian Montague sparked the offense immediately out of the break with a layup, followed by a layup by Rasile and a 3-pointer by Ben Sarson to extend the lead to 74-29 only 45 seconds into the second half.
• The Hilltoppers posted another 20-0 scoring run early on in the second half, sparked by a layup by Kyler Daugustino and capped by a pair of free throws by Woodword to make the score 94-32 with 13:50 remaining in the game. Spadafora knocked down a pair of 3-pointers during the run.
• A layup by Korte pushed the Black & Gold past the century mark for the first time this season at 101-42 with 9:46 left in the game. The West Liberty offense scored 100 or more points on 19 occasions a year ago.
• WLU notched their largest lead of the game with 7:10 left in the second half as Darren Fergus knocked down a pair of free throws to make it a 67 point advantage at 112-45.
• After the Hilltoppers collected their largest lead of the game, Shippensburg scored 14 of the next 18 points to cut the lead down to 57 points but a 3-pointer by Spadafora and a layup by Fergus stretched the lead back to 62 points to close the game at 121-59.
• The 60 point win was West Liberty's third since the start of the 2021-22 season and their largest win in a season opener since 2017-18 when they beat Cheyney by 76 points (139-63).
• West Liberty shot 47-of-88 (53.4%) from the field, 16-of-45 (35.6%) from 3-point range, and 11-of-19 (57.9%) from the free throw line compared to 23-of-63 (36.5%) from the field, 6-of-23 (26.1%) from 3-point range, and 7-of-11 (63.6%) from the free throw line for Shippensburg.
• The Hilltoppers won the battle on the boards 54-34 and converted 23 Raider turnovers into 39 points. The Black & Gold also held a 63-31 advantage in bench points and assisted on 30 of 47 made baskets.
• WLU saw seven players score in double figures as Spadafora and Hinds both paced the team with 17 points, notching new career-highs.
• Six Hilltoppers knocked down a 3-pointer in the game, including five players who made multiple shots from deep. Spadafora made a career-high seven from deep while Rasile and Hinds each made three. 

WEST LIBERTY STATISTICAL LEADERS
Dante Spadafora: 17 points, 5-of-6 3-point field goals, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, 1 assist
Chaz Hinds: 17 points, 7-of-10 field goals, 3-of-5 point field goals, 4 rebounds, 2 steals
Zach Rasile: 15 points, 3-of-6 3-point field goals, 2 assists, 1 rebound
Kyler Daugustino: 14 points, 7-of-12 field goals, 1 rebound, 1 assist

Ben Howlett and Chaz Hinds Post Game Interview

 
UP NEXT
West Liberty ends the opening weekend of play with another match-up against PSAC competition in the Atlantic Region Crossover, hosting Seton Hill on Saturday night. The Hilltoppers and Griffins are set for an 8 p.m. tip-off in the ASRC.