WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 16/12 ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team is on the road at West Virginia State tonight for its second matchup of the season. WLU's Bryce Butler banked in a shot with five seconds remaining in December to lift the Hilltoppers over the Yellow Jackets, 91-89.

THE BASICS
February 1, 2023 | 7:30 pm | Walker Convocation Center (Institute, W.Va.)
#16/12 West Liberty (17-3, 12-2 MEC) at West Virginia State (15-5, 9-5 MEC)
Live stats and video links will be available here.

THE HILLTOPPERS
West Liberty picked up its second straight win with a 108-53 rout of West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday to move up six spots in the national NABC rankings. 11 Hilltoppers scored with 6 in double digits, led by Ben Sarson with 16 points. The Hilltoppers got out in front early and never looked back, outshooting the Bobcats 16-3 from beyond the arc and outscoring them 42-26 in the paint. WLU forced 25 turnovers, converting them into 35 points and scoring 24 fast break points. All 12 players recorded assists and the team had 28 assists on 38 made field goals. The Black and Gold led by 40-plus for the final 16:48.
 
The Hilltoppers are in the top five in Division II in nine statistical categories. They lead the country in three pointers per game (13.0), three-point attempts per game (34.0), and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.90). WLU ranks second in scoring offense (100.0 points per game) and assists per game (23.2). Then, is third in turnovers forced per game (19.80) and turnover margin (+7.6), while ranking fifth in steals per game (10.8) and scoring margin (+18.8). The Hilltoppers have forced 20 or more turnovers seven times this season.
 
West Liberty is shooting 49.4% from the field and 38.1% from beyond the arc, meanwhile opponents are converting at a 48.5% rate from the field and 34.6% from deep. The Hilltoppers have drained double-digit threes in 15 outings and had their third 20-three game last Wednesday in the win over D&E. They have held opponents to single digit three pointers in 16 of the 19 games, including three of the last four.
 
WLU has scored over 100-plus 10 times this season, while recording 14 of its 17 wins by double digits.
 
Bryce Butler leads all of DII with 186 made field goals and is shooting 61% from the floor, he went a perfect 6-for-6 Saturday at Wesleyan. He is atop the MEC and eighth in DII averaging 22.7 points per game in 29 minutes of action per game. Last Wednesday he posted his sixth double-double of the season, scoring 20 points with 10 rebounds in the win over D&E. Butler has scored double-digits in every game this season with 16 games above 20 and three 30-point outings. The junior guard also leads the team on the glass pulling in 7.6 rebounds per game and has had an assist in every game dishing out 3.6 per game (second on the team) including four-plus in each of the last four games. Butler is a four-time MEC Player of the Week and was named the D2CIDA National Player of the Week on December 13 after his game-wining efforts over WVSU in the first matchup.
 
Six Hilltoppers average double-digit points per game. Malik McKinney (12.2), Christian Montague (12.0), Steve Cannady (11.3), Ben Sarson (10.6), and Zach Rasile (10.0) all join Butler. McKinney (53.2%), Cannady (50.3%), and Butler (61.0%) are all making over half their shots.
 
Montague has scored double digits in eight of the last nine games and went over 1,000 career points between Walsh and West Liberty with a career-high 26 points versus Frostburg State on January 11. He has made multiple threes in eight of the last 10 games and is second on the team, averaging 2.20 triples per game, while shooting a team-best 46.8% from three. Montague leads the team averaging 4.0 assists per game and has had four-plus in six of the last seven. He ranks second in the MEC with a 2.76 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
Cannady scored a season-high 22 points with four three pointers in the loss at Wheeling and posted his 11^th double-digit game in the Black and Gold last time out with 13 points. He has dished out multiple assists in six straight games. Cannady leads the conference and ranks 12th in DII with a 2.91 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
Rasile is fifth in the MEC averaging 2.40 three pointers per game shooting 44% from deep. The sophomore guard had a stretch of three straight double-digit games snapped with an eight point outing on Saturday. He has drained multiple threes in seven of the last eight games and tied his career-high with five triples three times this season. Rasile also tied his career-high with three steals last Wednesday and has recorded at least one in six straight games.
 
6'6" forward Ben Sarson has been in double digits in four of the last five games since returning to the 'Topper lineup after being out for two games. A game-high 16 points included four triples and four free throws on Saturday. Sarson has made each of his last 11 free throw attempts across three games and is shooting 83.3% from the line this season. He has an assist in seven straight games.
 
McKinney has been to the line a team-high 85 times and is making 77.6% of his free throws. The senior guard from Bowie, Md is 22 points away from 1,000 in his career on the hilltop. His career-high is 24 points, done twice including in the win over Glenville State earlier this season on January 7.
 
Alek West is sixth in the MEC and leads the squad averaging 1.60 steals per game. He also is third in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.48) dishing out an average of 3.1 assists per game. West scored his fourth double-digit game of the season and second straight on Saturday with 12 points. He has dished out four-plus assists in three of the last four games.
 
10 Hilltoppers average over 10 minutes per game with Butler leading all players, at 29.0 minutes on the court.
 
West Liberty is 6-2 on the road, with all but one win being a conference game. This is the first Wednesday road game since January 4 at Concord (W, 113-97) and second this season (98-81 win at Charleston on Dec. 7).

THE YELLOW JACKETS
West Virginia State has dropped out of the latest national NABC national rankings and is on a four-game losing streak. After the heart-breaking loss to WLU in December, WVSU bounced back with seven straight wins reaching as high as 15^th in the national polls. The Yellow Jackets have since dropped consecutive games to Glenville State, Charleston, Fairmont State, and Frostburg State. All but the Fairmont State loss were at home, while each of the last three have come by three, seven, and five points including an OT loss at Fairmont.
 
The Yellow Jackets are scoring the ninth most points in DII, at 88.4 per game, while shooting 45.4% and 36.7% from three. They also rank sixth in free throw attempts per game (24.9), while making the 11^th most per game (17.2). WVSU holds opponents to 29.3% shooting beyond the arc, the sixth best mark in DII. They allow 81.2 points per game, while averaging a -1.1-rebounding margin and +0.8-turnover margin.
 
Six players average 10-plus points per game for WVSU, led by Samier Kinsler at 16.2. Kinsler paces the team from beyond the arc averaging 2.95 threes per game, while shooting 42.1% from deep, good for second and third in the MEC respectively. Malik Whitaker (13.2 ppg), Anthony Pittman (12.8 ppg) are right behind. Pittman scored 20 points, while Noah Jordan charted a 14-point, 12-rebound double in the first meeting versus WLU. Jordan is averaging 10.8 points per game on the season and is pulling in 6.7 rebounds. Malik Whitaker is third in the conference averaging 7.5 rebounds per game, while Pittman leads the team in 12 games averaging 9.1 rebounds.
 
10 players average 10-plus minutes, while Pittman records a team-high 29.4 minutes per game. Nine of the 10 players are shooting over 42% this season.
 
West Virginia State is 7-3 at home this season, all three losses have come in the last three home games.

THE SERIES
All-time the Hilltoppers hold a 57-51 advantage heading into the 109^th meeting. WLU has won 22 of the last 25 meetings, however each of the three WVSU wins have come in the last three years including an overtime defeat of the Hilltoppers in the NCAA Regional last season.
 
Bryce Butler made a game-winning shot with five seconds left to give West Liberty a 91-89 victory over West Virginia State in the first meeting of the season in December. Butler finished with 33 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and no turnovers in the game. The lead changed hands 10 times and there were 9 ties. The Yellow Jackets led by 2 at halftime but the Hilltoppers tied it up at 52 with just over 14 minutes to play. Michael Sampson gave the Black and Gold their largest lead of the night (74-66) with just over seven minutes left, but WVSU came back right back within one. The game stayed within 4 points for the final four and a half minutes. Malik McKinney had 19 points and 4 assists, while Chaz Hinds added 10 points off the bench. Ben Sarson had 8 rebounds and the Hilltoppers had a 9-point edge in second chance points and 17-9 offensive rebounding edge.
 
MEC STANDINGS
West Liberty: 1
West Virginia State: T4
Full Standings click here.

NEXT UP
West Liberty will be at home taking on Charleston on Saturday. Tip off is set for 4 pm inside the ASRC.

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