West Liberty, W.Va. – The No. 20 West Liberty University men's basketball team will close their regular season home slate on Saturday, February 24, as they host Concord in a battle of teams in the top-3 of the MEC standings. The Hilltoppers and Mountain Lions are set for a 4 p.m. tip-off following the recognition of WLU's five seniors.

GAME DETAILS

• Location: West Liberty, W.Va. (Academic Sports & Recreation Complex "ASRC")
• Tip-Off: 4 P.M.
• Senior Day: Prior to tip-off the Hilltoppers will honor five seniors within the program as they will recognize Alek West, Zach Rasile, Ben Sarson, Chaz Hinds, and John Korte.

#20 WEST LIBERTY STORYLINES

• West Liberty enters Saturday's game with a record of 20-5 (14-3 MEC) following a 77-73 win at Glenville State on Wednesday evening.
• 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 (427-55, .886) and have the best home winning percentage (232-11, .955).
• Through 25 games WLU is averaging 99.4 points, 39.9 rebounds, 23.3 assists, 11.8 steals, and 2.8 blocks per game, while shooting the ball 47.0 percent from the field, 34.7 percent from 3-point range, and 75.3 percent from the free throw line.
• The Hilltoppers lead NCAA Division II in assist/turnover ratio (1.96), assists per game (23.3), bench points per game (45.00), 3-point attempts per game (35.2), and 3-pointers per game (12.2). They also rank second in scoring margin (+20.4) and are third in turnover margin (+8.8) and turnovers forced per game (20.64).
• 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 (103.8 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 (101.4 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 Zach Rasile with 11.8 points per game while Christian Montague and John Korte add averages of 11.7 and 11.5 points respectively. Ben Sarson (11.0) and Chaz Hinds (10.4) 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.
• Hinds leads a group of four WLU players who average more than 2.00 3-pointers per game with 2.32 3-pointers per game, ranking sixth in the MEC. He is joined by Rasile and Montague who are seventh and eighth with 2.29 and 2.12 3-pointers, and Dante Spadafora is 12^th with 2.00 3-pointers per game.
• Spadafora leads the team at 43.8 percent from beyond the arc on 46-of-105 shooting while Montague is 53-of-133 for 39.8 percent.
• The Hilltoppers have reached double digit made 3-pointers in 17 of their 25 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 100-of-125 shots from the charity stripe for 80.0 percent. Spadafora and Sarson are also a pair of five players who shoot better than 80 percent from the free throw line, going 44-of-51 (86.3%) and 37-of-44 (84.1%) respectively.
• Korte and West lead WLU on the glass, securing 6.0 and 4.7 rebounds per game. The pair has grabbed four or more boards in 17 and 15 games respectively. With points and rebounds Korte and Sarson have the only double-doubles for West Liberty this season. Finley Woodward ranks eighth in the MEC with an average of 1.96 offensive rebounds.
• Montague ranks third in the MEC dishing out 109 total assists and is fourth with an average of 4.4 assists per game, while West ranks seventh with an average of 3.7 assists per game and 88 total assists. The pair has tallied five or more assists in 11 and seven games respectively.
• West's 3.52 assist/turnover ratio ranks fifth in DII as he has dished out 88 assists compared to only 25 turnovers. Montague also ranks 21^st nationally with a 2.60 assist/turnover ratio, totaling 109 assists compared to 42 turnovers.
• The WLU defense is spearheaded by the trio of Spadafora, Montague, and West who rank second, third, and fifth respectively in the MEC in steals per game. Spadafora has collected 1.91 steals per game while Montague and West add 1.68 and 1.62 steals per game. West has recorded 13 multi-steal games while Spadafora and Montague have on 12 occasions.
• Sarson leads the team with an average of 1.05 blocks per game and a total of 22 blocked shots this season, ranking seventh and ninth 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 181-30 (.858) 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.

(RV) CONCORD STORYLINES

• Concord enters Saturday's game with a record of 20-4 (13-4 MEC) following a 98-70 win at home over Wheeling to extend their win streak to ten games.
• The Mountain Lions are currently third place in the league standings.
• On Tuesday, Concord was receiving votes in the 11^th consecutive release of the NABC Coaches' Poll.
• Through 24 games CU is averaging 82.0 points, 44.2 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 4.7 steals, and 4.8 blocks per game while shooting the ball 46.3 percent from the field, 33.7 percent from 3-point range, and 75.9 percent from the free throw line.
• Concord ranks within the top-25 of NCAA Division II in sixth statistical categories as they lead the country defensive rebounds per game (32.25), while ranking second in rebounds per game (44.21), eighth in rebound margin (+8.1), tenth in blocks per game (4.8), 15^th in field goal percentage defense (40.8%), and 20^th in fouls per game (14.2).
• Kollin Tolbert leads four players averaging double figures in scoring with 14.3 points per game. He is joined by JJ Harper (13.1), Jevon Laidler (11.1), and Jordan Wooden (10.4). Tolbert has posted five games with 20 or more points this season while Harper and Laidler add four and two respectively. Amare Smith and Wooden each have one.
• Wooden and Laidler are the top 3-point shooters on the team, shooting 34-of-98 (34.7%) and 27-of-62 (43.5%) respectively.
• Tolbert ranks third in the MEC in free throw percentage, shooting 112-of-130 (86.2%) from the charity stripe.
• Tolbert and Rene Diop are two of the top rebounders in the MEC, ranking sixth and seventh with 6.3 and 6.1 boards per game respectively. Diop has reached double figures in five games, earning a double-double in four of those outings, while Tolbert has reached double figures and notched a double-double in three games.
• Tolbert, Wooden, and Harper are the facilitators of the CU offense, averaging 2.7, 2.3, and 2.0 assists per game respectively. Tolbert has six games of four or more assists this season while Wooden and Harper each have three.
• On the defensive side of the ball, Tolbert leads the team with 1.2 steals per game in 2023-24. He has posted a total of nine multi-steal games this season.
• Diop is one of the top rim protectors in the country, leading the MEC while ranking 11^th in DII with 49 total blocked shots and is 12^th nationally with 2.13 blocks per game. Joining him in the top-5 of the league leaders is Harper who is third with 29 total blocks and 1.32 blocks per game. Diop has 15 games of two or more blocked shots this year while Harper has eight.
• Todd May is in his eighth season as the head coach at Concord with a career record of 118-100 during his time with the Mountain Lions.

SERIES HISTORY

• West Liberty leads the all-time series 51-32 and has won 27 of the last 31 meetings dating back to the 2010-11 season.
• The Hilltoppers won their seventh consecutive game against the Mountain Lions with a 91-79 victory in Athens, West Virginia, on January 17.
• Ben Sarson led the way with 17 points, five rebounds and three blocks while Christian Montague added 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists.