West Liberty, W.Va. – Following their lowest output of the season from 3-point range in their last outing, West Liberty flipped the script in Saturday night's 114-78 victory over Glenville State. Led by a career-high of seven made 3-pointers from Christian Montague, the Hilltoppers connected on an MEC-best 20 made baskets from distance and saw four players make three or more in the game.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Final Score: No. 20 West Liberty 114, Glenville State 78
Team Records: No. 20 West Liberty 13-3 (8-1 MEC), Glenville State 9-7 (5-4 MEC)
Attendance: 689
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Glenville State opened the game with a pair of 3-pointers and jumped out to an early 6-1 lead before West Liberty tied the game at 11 apiece entering the first media timeout with a layup by Finley Woodward. Following the timeout Lanyc Shuler knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Hilltoppers the lead for good the remainder of the night.
• Christian Montague connected on his second 3-pointer of the game with 9:26 remaining in the first half to give WLU a double digit lead (31-19). He then continued to heat up from beyond the arc as he made three additional 3-pointers to bring his total to five entering the final media timeout of the first half, helping West Liberty build up a 46-28 advantage with 4:47 to play till the break.
• Chaz Hinds' third 3-pointer of the first half gave the Hilltoppers their largest lead of the opening half at 22 points (59-37) with 1:39 remaining, however, the Pioneers knocked down a shot from distance to trim the lead to 59-40 at halftime.
• Ben Sarson converted the free throw for the and-one on the first possession of the second half before Glenville State went on a 6-2 run to cut the lead back to 18 with 16:05 to play in the game. Following Sarson's layup just 28 seconds into the second half, the Hilltoppers were held without a made basket the next 5:25 of game time until Darren Fergus made a layup to push the lead back to 20 (66-46) with 13:57 left on the clock. WLU also held GSU scoreless for over three minutes during that time frame.
• The Pioneers momentarily cut the lead down to 15 points (66-51) before a quick layup and 3-pointer by Zach Rasile extended the lead back to 20. Then a few minutes later another 7-2 GSU run cut the lead to 15 (73-58) again with 9:54 remaining in the game, however this time it was Dante Spadafora with the response as he hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
• A late 21-4 scoring run for West Liberty gave the Hilltoppers their largest lead of the game at 37 points (107-70) following a 3-pointer by Spadafora with 2:38 remaining in the game. Alek West gave WLU their 20^th 3-pointer of the game in the closing seconds.
• West Liberty shot 39-of-82 (47.6%) from the field, 20-of-45 (44.4%) from 3-point range, and 16-of-19 (84.2%) from the free throw line compared to 25-of-56 (44.6%) from the field, 8-of-25 (32.0%) from 3-point range, and 20-of-26 (76.9%) from the free throw line for Glenville State.
• WLU saw six players knock down a shot from beyond the arc, led by Montague with a career-high of seven in the game (tied for second most in MEC in 2023-24), Spadafora had four, and Rasile and Hinds each had three in the game.
• WLU shot better than 84.0 percent from the charity stripe for the third consecutive game, combining to shoot 59-of-66 (89.4%) in their last three outings.
• The Hilltoppers forced more than 30 turnovers for the fourth time this season with 31 against the Pioneers and collected 18 steals. Led by Darren Fergus with four steals, a total of four WLU players notched three or more steals, and he was joined by Shuler, Montague, and Spadafora who each had three.
• West Liberty held the advantage in points in the paint (38-34), points off turnovers (32-12), second chance points (15-12), fast break points (14-12), and bench points (60-24).
• West Liberty saw six players score in double figures, led by Montague who with 23 points in the win, scored 20 or more points for the third time this season.

WEST LIBERTY STATISTICAL LEADERS
Christian Montague: 23 points, 7-of-9 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals
Dante Spadafora: 16 points, 4-of-6 3-pointers, 3 steals, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block
Lanyc Shuler: 15 points, 6-of-10 field goals, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 assist

POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE (HEAD COACH BEN HOWLETT, CHRISTIAN MONTAGUE, AND DARREN FERGUS)

 
UP NEXT
West Liberty will remain at home in the midst of a 3-game homestand when they face Salem for their final out of conference game on Wednesday, January 24. The Hilltoppers and Tigers are set for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off inside the ASRC.