West Liberty, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's basketball team looks to continue a run of momentum building towards the end of the regular season as they enter a stretch of three road match-ups in four games starting Wednesday, February 21, at Glenville State. The Hilltoppers and Pioneers are slated for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off inside the Waco Center in Glenville, West Virginia.

GAME DETAILS

• Location: Glenville, West Virginia (Waco Center)
• Tip-Off: 7:30 P.M.

#20 WEST LIBERTY STORYLINES

• West Liberty enters Wednesday's game with a record of 19-5 (13-3 MEC) following an 85-60 win over Fairmont State on Saturday afternoon.
• The Hilltoppers are currently in second place in the league standings.
• After a two week hiatus where they received votes, WLU returned to the NABC Top-25 Coaches' Poll at No. 20 in the nation on Tuesday afternoon.
• Since 2010 the Black & Gold have posted the best overall winning percentage in NCAA basketball (426-55, .886) and have the best home winning percentage (232-11, .955).
• Through 24 games WLU is averaging 100.4 points, 39.9 rebounds, 23.7 assists, 12.1 steals, and 2.9 blocks per game, while shooting the ball 47.3 percent from the field, 35.1 percent from 3-point range, and 75.4 percent from the free throw line.
• The Hilltoppers lead NCAA Division II in assist/turnover ratio (1.95), assists per game (23.7), bench points per game (45.17), 3-point attempts per game (35.3), and 3-pointers per game (32.0). They also rank second in scoring margin (+21.0) and are third in turnover margin (+8.9) and turnovers forced (21.00).
• Joining the Hilltoppers in the top-4 scoring offenses in DII are three teams with ties back to the hilltop and their unique style of play. Gannon (104.6 ppg) is led by Jordan Fee who played at WLU from 2010-12, Nova Southeastern (103.4 ppg) is led by former WLU head coach Jim Crutchfield who was on the sidelines from 2004-17, and Coker (101.6 ppg) who is led by Mike Lamberti who played for WLU from 2011-16 and was an assistant coach from 2018-23.
• A total of five players for the Hilltoppers are averaging double figures in scoring, led by Christian Montague with 12.0 points per game while John Korte and Zach Rasile add averages of 11.9 and 11.8 points respectively. Ben Sarson (11.0) and Chaz Hinds (10.2) round out the group.
• Montague and Rasile have notched 20 or more points in four and three games respectively this season while Korte, Sarson, Alek West have twice.
• Rasile leads a group of four WLU players who average more than 2.00 3-pointers per game with 2.35 3-pointers per game, ranking fifth in the MEC. He is joined by Hinds and Montague who are seventh and eighth with 2.29 and 2.17 3-pointers, and Dante Spadafora is 12^th with 2.00 3-pointers per game.
• Spadafora leads the team at 44.0 percent from beyond the arc on 44-of-100 shooting while Montague is 52-of-127 for 40.9 percent.
• The Hilltoppers have reached double digit made 3-pointers in 17 of their 24 games this year. Additionally, WLU has connected on 15 or more 3-pointers in seven contests, which includes back-to-back games against Glenville State and Salem when they became only the second team in all NCAA divisions to make 20 or more shots in multiple games this year.
• Among qualifiers for the league leaders, Korte ranks eighth as he has knocked down 98-of-123 shots from the charity stripe for 79.7 percent. Spadafora and Sarson are a pair of four players who shoot better than 80 percent from the free throw line, going 44-of-51 (86.3%) and 36-of-42 (85.7%) respectively.
• Korte and Sarson lead WLU on the glass, securing 6.0 and 4.7 rebounds per game. The pair has grabbed four or more boards in 16 and 13 games respectively. With one apiece the pair has the only double-doubles for West Liberty this season. Finley Woodward ranks eighth in the MEC with an average of 1.91 offensive rebounds.
• Montague ranks third in the MEC dishing out 108 total assists and is fourth with an average of 4.5 assists per game, while West ranks sixth with an average of 3.7 assists per game and 86 total assists. The pair has tallied five or more assists in 11 and seven games respectively.
• West's 3.58 assist/turnover ratio ranks fourth in DII as he has dished out 86 assists compared to only 24 turnovers. Montague also ranks 27^th nationally with a 2.63 assist/turnover ratio, totaling 108 assists compared to 41 turnovers.
• The WLU defense is spearheaded by the trio of Spadafora, Montague, and West who rank second, third, and sixth respectively in the MEC in steals per game. Spadafora has collected 2.00 steals per game and ranks 36^th in DII while Montague and West add 1.71 and 1.61 steals per game. All three have each posted 12 multi-steal games.
• Sarson leads the team with an average of 1.05 blocks per game and total of 21 blocked shots this season, ranking seventh and eighth in the MEC. He has recorded seven games with multiple blocks.
• Ben Howlett is in his seventh season as the head coach at West Liberty with a record of 180-30 (.857) with the Hilltoppers. He is second to only his predecessor, Jim Crutchfield, for best win percentage across all NCAA divisions for coaches with a minimum of five years of experience.

GLENVILLE STATE STORYLINES

• Glenville State enters Wednesday's game with a record of 12-12 (7-9 MEC) following a 79-69 win at West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon.
• The Pioneers are currently seventh place in the league standings.
• Through 24 games GSU is averaging 83.0 points, 41.2 rebounds, 14.9 assists, 6.5 steals, and 3.8 blocks per game while shooting the ball 42.7 percent from the field, 33.8 percent from 3-point range, and 69.7 percent from the free throw line.
• Glenville State ranks within the top-25 of NCAA Division II in five statistical categories, ranking tenth in 3-point attempts per game (29.0), 11^th in rebounds per game (41.21), 16^th in bench points per game (33.79) and defensive rebounds per game (28.29), and 25^th in 3-pointers per game (9.8).
• Jordan Turbo Smith leads the team in scoring with 13.6 points per game while Devin Collins (13.5) and Dominiq Penn (13.2) rounds out the three players averaging double figures.
• Penn is fourth in the conference with 2.45 3-pointers per game, knocking down 54-of-143 (37.8%) on the season. Collins and Smith are also players to watch from beyond the arc, ranking sixth and tenth in the league with 2.33 and 2.11 3-pointers per game.
• Collins and Trevor Chandler lead the Pioneers on the glass with 5.5 and 4.9 rebounds per game respectively.
• Smith is the facilitator of the GSU offense, averaging 5.3 assists per game, which is third in the MEC and 21^st nationally.
• Smith also ranks fourth in the league in steals per game, averaging 1.63 per contest.
• Chandler and Remy Lemovou are the rim protectors for the Pioneers, ranking sixth and 11^th in the conference with 1.06 and 0.88 blocks per game.
• Bob Bolen is in his first season as the head coach at Glenville State with a record of 12-12 during his time with the Pioneers. He previously spent 19 seasons as the head coach at Mountain State (NAIA) from 1993-2012, as he has accumulated a career record of 501-137 in his 20^th season as a head coach.

SERIES HISTORY

• West Liberty leads the all-time series 78-71 and has won 29 of the last 30 games, including 19 straight.
• The Hilltoppers picked up a 114-78 win in the first meeting this season on January 20 inside the ASRC.
• Christian Montague scored 23 points in the game and shot 7-of-9 from beyond the arc in the win while Dante Spadafora added 16 points of his own and was 4-of-6 from 3-point range.