WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's basketball team moved up a spot in the latest national rankings, now at 11/10, and will travel to Frostburg State Wednesday night in their second-to-last road game of the regular season.

THE BASICS
February 15, 2023 | 7:30 pm | Bobcat Arena (Frostburg, Md.)
#11/10 West Liberty (21-3, 16-2 MEC) at Frostburg State (8-16, 4-14 MEC)
Live stats and video links will be available here.

THE HILLTOPPERS
West Liberty enters the matchup on a six-game winning streak, its longest of the season since the 9-0 start. The Hilltoppers are coming off a 127-79 romp of Concord on Saturday in which they set an NCAA DII single-game record with 12 different players making a three pointer. All 13 Hilltoppers that saw action scored, with six players in double digits, led by Bryce Butler's 19 points. West Liberty shot a season-best 60% from the field and 57.1% from beyond the arc. The game went back-and-forth with 14 lead changes and six ties early, before West Liberty took control in the second half, outscoring Concord 69-28. WLU scored 17 of the first 21 points of the second half and never looked back adding a 21-4 run to go over the century mark with 6:36 to play. West Liberty dished out 31 assists and forced 21 turnovers, with a +14 turnover margin.
 
The Hilltoppers are in the top five in Division II in nine statistical categories. They lead the country in three pointers per game (12.9), three-point attempts per game (33.5), assists per game (23.0), and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.98). WLU ranks second in scoring offense (100.2 points per game). Then, is third in turnovers forced per game (19.54) and turnover margin (+7.9), while ranking fourth in scoring margin (+19.1) and fifth in steals per game (10.7). The Hilltoppers have forced 20 or more turnovers 11 times this season including in four of the last five games.
 
West Liberty is shooting 49.4% from the field and 38.6% from beyond the arc, meanwhile opponents are converting at a 48.5% rate from the field and 34.7% clip from deep. The Hilltoppers have drained double-digit threes in 18 outings and had their fourth game with 20 or more triples on Saturday draining 20 versus Concord. WLU has made double-digit threes in eight of the last 10 games. They have held opponents to single digit three pointers in 20 of the 24 games, including eight of the last nine.
 
WLU has scored over 100-plus 12 times this season including two separate four-game streaks over the century mark, while recording 17 of its 21 wins by double digits.
 
Bryce Butler is second in all of DII with 224 made field goals and is shooting 59.6% from the floor. He is atop the MEC and eighth in DII averaging 22.6 points per game. Butler has six double-doubles on the season and has scored double-digits in every game with 18 games above 20 and three 30-point outings. The junior guard also leads the team on the glass pulling in 7.4 rebounds per game, ranking fourth in the conference, and dishes out 3.7 assists per game (second on the team). Butler is now a five-time MEC Player of the Week and was named the D2CIDA National Player of the Week on December 13 after his game-winning shot over WVSU at home. He earned his fifth POW honor from the MEC this week after leading the team in scoring averaging 23 points along with eight rebounds in a 2-0 week for the Black and Gold.
 
Five Hilltoppers average double-digit points per game. Christian Montague (12.0), Malik McKinney (12.0), Steve Cannady (11.3), and Ben Sarson (10.6) all join Butler. McKinney (54.7%), Cannady (50.3%) and Butler (59.6%) are all making over half their shots.
 
Five Hilltoppers shoot over 40% from beyond the arc, Zach Rasile leads at 46.5%, then Montague (45.0%), Cannady (42.3%), Butler (42.0%), and Sarson (40.4%) follow.
 
Montague has scored double digits in 11 of the last 13 games and went over 1,000 career points between Walsh and West Liberty with a career-high 26 points in the first meeting versus Frostburg State on January 11. He is second on the team, averaging 2.08 triples per game, while shooting 45.0% from three. Montague leads the team averaging 3.9 assists per game and has had four-plus in nine of the last 11 outings.
 
Four 'Toppers are in the top-five in the MEC in assist-to-turnover ratio, Cannady (1^st – 2.92), Montague (2^nd – 2.91), Alek West (3^rd – 2.74), and Butler (5^th – 1.93).
 
Cannady, a graduate transfer from Mercyhurst, scored a season-high 22 points with four three pointers in the loss at Wheeling and has netted double digits in five of the seven games since. Cannady has posted 10-plus 14 times in his first season dawning the Black and Gold. He has dished out multiple assists in nine of the last 10 games averaging 3.0 assists per game and ranks fifth in the MEC in steals per game (1.62) with 13 swipes in the last five games.
 
Rasile is fifth in the MEC averaging 2.46 three pointers per game and is shooting a team-best 46.5% from deep. The sophomore guard has drained multiple threes in nine of the last 10 games and tied his career-high with five triples for the fourth time this season on Saturday. Rasile also tied his career-high with three steals in the home win over Davis & Elkins and has recorded at least one in 10 straight games.
 
6'6" forward Ben Sarson has been in double digits in seven of the last 10 games, two of which posting nine points including last Wednesday night's near double-double off a career-high 11 rebounds at Glenville State. It was his first double-digit rebounding effort of the season, while he has scored double figures 13 times. Sarson is shooting 82.9% from the line this season. He has an assist in 11 straight games and dished out a season-high three in the recent home win over Charleston. Sarson has made a three in each of the last seven games with multiple makes from deep in four of the last five outings.
 
McKinney, a senior guard from Bowie, Md., recently eclipsed 1,000 career points in the Hilltopper uniform becoming the 55^th player in West Liberty history to join the club. He has scored double digits 13 times this season and hit the 20 mark three times with a pair of 24-point outings.
 
10 Hilltoppers average over 10 minutes per game with Butler leading all players, at 28.8 minutes on the court.
 
West Liberty is 8-2 on the road, with all but one win being a conference game. WLU is 4-0 on Wednesday away games (82-70 at Glenville State on Feb. 8, 102-97 at WVSU on Feb. 1, 113-97 at Concord on Jan. 4, and 98-81 at Charleston on Dec. 7).

THE BOBCATS
Frostburg State is coming off an 87-70 loss at Notre Dame on Saturday, but has gone 2-for-2 in its last two games inside Bobcat Arena defeating Glenville State (88-83) and Alderson Broaddus (87-72).
 
The Bobcats are scoring 77.2 points per game on 44.2% shooting and a 30.4% mark from deep, while opponents are accumulating 85.1 points per game on 46.2% shooting and a 38.7% clip from beyond the arc. Frostburg State averages a +0.2-rebounding margin and -0.1-turnover margin. The Bobcats have not made double-digit threes in a game this season and have committed double-digit turnovers in all but two games with three outings featuring 20-plus miscues.
 
Three players average double-digit points per game. Tairell Fletcher leads the team at 17.5, Jason Murphy nets 15.8, and Agyei Edwards scores 15.7. Murphy paces the team on the glass pulling in 8.7 rebounds per game, while Edwards adds 6.0 and leads the team beyond the arc making 1.8 triples per game on 30.7% shooting. Juston Bailey adds one three per game on a team-leading 34.3% three-point shooting on 70 less attempts than Edwards. Jaylin Albury dishes out a team-leading 3.0 assists per game.
 
Frostburg State is 4-6 on its home court this season.

THE SERIES
The Hilltoppers own a perfect 13-0 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 seven meetings. This will be the fourth trip to Bobcat Arena since the elevation. West Liberty is 3-0 during that span including a 124-84 win on the road last January.
 
Earlier this season (January 11 in West Liberty): Frostburg State (103) – WLU (129)
West Liberty scored 129 points, a season-high, and won 129-103 against Frostburg State at home in January. Christian Montague scored a career-high 26 points in just 18 minutes, with five three pointers. Bryce Butler netted 24 points, with a career-high four triples. All 12 Hilltoppers that played scored, with six in double figures. Michael Sampson added 13 points and 11 rebounds, achieving his first double-double. West Liberty made a season-high 22 three pointers and held Frostburg State to three. The Hilltoppers recorded 30 assists, and 11 players grabbed a rebound. WLU dominated the Bobcats throughout the game, taking a 31-point lead at halftime, which stayed above 30 throughout the entire second half reaching as many as 43 points (122-79) at the 6:30 mark.
 
MEC STANDINGS
West Liberty: 1
Frostburg State: 10
Full Standings click here.

NEXT UP
West Liberty hosts Fairmont State on Saturday at 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.