INDIANA, Pa. – The No. 5-ranked West Liberty University men's basketball team blasted Pitt-Johnstown, 112-88, here Saturday afternoon in an NCAA D2 Atlantic Region quarterfinal at the Kovalchick Center on the campus of Indiana (Pa.) University.

Coach Ben Howlett's No. 2-seeded Hilltoppers (29-3) will take on No. 3 seed Mercyhurst (25-5) in Sunday's 5 p.m. Atlantic Region semifinal. Mercyhurst held off East Stroudsburg, 72-66, in the other afternoon quarterfinal.

"Losing here in the quarterfinal round a year ago was 100 percent motivation for us today," head coach Ben Howlett said. "These 14 guys are a lot of fun to coach. They practice the right way and they play the right way. Really happy to see that rewarded today."

West Liberty jumped on Pitt-Johnstown from the opening tap, scoring 11 of the game's first 13 points to take a 9-point lead just over three minutes after the opening tap.

The Mountain Cats closed the gap to 13-7 on a John Paul Kromka rebound hoop but Malik McKinney answered with a driving layup and the Hilltopper pressure clamped down hard.

The Black and Gold reeled off 10 unanswered points over the next 90 seconds, capped by a pair of McKinney free throws that pushed the count to 23-7 with 12:42 still to play in the first half. The lead never dropped below double-figures the rest of the way.

"I thought our guards created a lot of havoc with the press," Howlett said. "Even when we weren't forcing turnovers, we were speeding up the pace. That allowed us to wear them down, physically and mentally, as the game went on."

The margin hit 20 points for the first time, 37-17, on a Steve Cannady free throw at 7:40 of the first half. West Liberty carried a 58-42 advantage into the halftime locker room and led by as many as 24 points down the stretch.

The Hilltoppers hit 54 percent (43-of-79) of their shots from the floor, including 8-of-20 (40 percent) from behind the 3-point arc. Howlett's up-tempo crew came up with 14 steals, forced 20 turnovers and held a whopping 31-7 advantage in points off turnovers.

Two-time Atlantic Region Player of the Year Bryce Butler led the way with 27 points and 8 rebounds while McKinney added 22 points to pace seven WLU players in double-figures. Ben Sarson and Zach Rasile finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively, Christian Montague added 11 and the Black and Gold got 10 each from Cannady and Fin Woodward.

Andrew Shull led UPJ with 23 points while Kromka added 16 points and 9 boards. Jared Jakubick tossed in 15 points and Joe Batt recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

West Liberty advances to the Atlantic Region semifinals tomorrow (Sunday) at 5:30 pm against No. 3 seed Mercyhurst back inside the Kovalchick Center.

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

Postgame Press Conference

Head Coach Ben Howlett, Bryce Butler, Ben Sarson, and Malik McKinney