West Liberty, W.Va. – After getting back into the win column on Wednesday night following a pair of losses the week prior, the (RV) West Liberty University men's basketball team looks to build momentum as they reach the final stretch of the regular season. Saturday's (February 10) game at West Virginia Wesleyan will mark the first of five road games in their final seven games as the Hilltoppers look to complete the season sweep of the Bobcats. The teams are scheduled for a 4 p.m. tip-off inside the Rockefeller Center in Buckhannon, West Virginia.

GAME DETAILS

• Location: Buckhannon, W.Va. (Rockefeller Center)
• Tip-Off: 4 P.M.

[RV] WEST LIBERTY STORYLINES

• West Liberty enters Saturday's game with a record of 16-5 (10-3 MEC) following a 95-75 win at home over Davis & Elkins on Wednesday evening.
• The Hilltoppers are currently in third place in the league standings.
• After a pair of conference losses last week, WLU fell out of the NABC Top-25 Coaches' Poll on Tuesday but remains receiving votes. It is the first time since February 2, 2021, that the Hilltoppers are unranked, ending a run of 47 consecutive releases within the top-25.
• Since 2010 the Black & Gold have posted the best overall winning percentage in NCAA basketball (423-55, .885) and have the best home winning percentage (231-11, .955).
• Through 21 games WLU is averaging 101.6 points, 39.0 rebounds, 24.0 assists, 12.5 steals, and 3.0 blocks per game, while shooting the ball 47.8 percent from the field, 36.2 percent from 3-point range, and 74.8 percent from the free throw line.
• The Hilltoppers lead NCAA Division II in assist/turnover ratio (1.92), assists per game (24.0), bench points per game (46.71), 3-point attempts per game (34.9), and 3-pointers per game (12.6). They also rank third in scoring margin (+20.7), scoring offense (101.6), steals per game (12.5), turnover margin (+9.3), and turnovers forced per game (9.3).
• 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 (106.0 ppg) is led by Jordan Fee who played at WLU from 2010-12, Nova Southeastern (103.0 ppg) is led by former WLU head coach Jim Crutchfield who was on the sidelines from 2004-17, and Coker (99.9 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 six players for the Hilltoppers are averaging double figures in scoring, led by Christian Montague and Zach Rasile with 11.9 and 11.8 points per game respectively. Ben Sarson (11.5), John Korte (11.3), Chaz Hinds (10.3), and Alek West (10.2) round out the group.
• Montague and Rasile have notched 20 or more points in three games this season while Sarson and Alek West have twice. Korte has one game of 20 or more points in 2023-24.
• Hinds and Rasile lead a group of four WLU players who average more than 2.00 3-pointers per game with 2.24 per game apiece, tying for sixth in the MEC. Montague and Spadafora add 2.19 and 2.00 3-pointers per game for eighth and tenth in the league.
• Spadafora leads the team at 46.5 percent from beyond the arc on 40-of-86 shooting while Montague is 46-of-105 for 43.8 percent.
• The Hilltoppers have reached double digit made 3-pointers in 16 of their 21 games this year and became only the second team in all NCAA divisions to make 20 or more shots from deep in multiple games this season as they made 20 in back-to-back games against Glenville State and Salem.
• Spadafora, Sarson and West are three of the five players to shoot better than 80 percent from the charity stripe this season. Spadafora is 41-of-47 (87.2%), Sarson is 34-of-40 (85.0%), and West is 43-of-52 (82.7%) on the year from the free throw line.
• Korte and Sarson lead WLU on the glass, securing 5.7 and 4.7 rebounds per game. The pair has grabbed four or more boards in 13 games apiece. Sarson holds the team's lone double-double of the season with 11 points and ten rebounds against Fairmont State. Finley Woodward ranks eighth in the MEC with an average of 2.00 offensive rebounds.
• Montague ranks third in the MEC dishing out 94 total assists and is fourth with an average of 4.5 assists per game, while West ranks seventh with 68 total assists and an average of 3.4 assists per game. The pair has tallied five or more assists in nine and five games respectively.
• West's 3.78 assist/turnover ratio ranks fourth in DII as he has dished out 68 assists compared to only 18 turnovers. Montague also ranks 27^th nationally with a 2.69 assist/turnover ratio, totaling 94 assists compared to 35 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 both total steals and steals per game. Spadafora has totaled 41 steals with an average of 2.05 per game, ranking 42^nd and 36^th in DII. Montague adds 39 total steals and an average of 1.86 per game, while West rounds out the group with 34 total steals and 1.70 steals per game. Montague has posted 12 multi-steal games while Spadafora and West have each notched 11.
• Sarson leads the team with 21 total blocked shots and is averaging 1.11 per game this season, ranking fifth in the MEC in both categories. 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 177-30 (.855) 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.

WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN STORYLINES

• West Virginia Wesleyan enters Saturday's game with a record of 2-19 (1-12 MEC) following an 84-63 loss at Wheeling on Wednesday evening.
• The Bobcats are currently 11^th place in the league standings.
• Through 21 games WVWC is averaging 75.5 points, 31.6 rebounds, 11.5 assists, 6.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting the ball 42.9 percent from the field, 35.5 percent from 3-point range, and 73.7 percent from the free throw line.
• Led by Deiker Padrino who averages 16.7 points per game, the fifth most in the MEC, the Bobcats have two players averaging double figures in scoring. He is joined by Alex Mirhosseini who adds 13.4 points per game. Padrino and Mirhosseini have posted eight and five games of 20 or more points respectively while Maxwell Harris, Jalen Canada, and Aiden Blake each have one.
• Padrino is second in the conference with 2.76 3-pointers per game, shooting 58-of-128 for the league-leading 45.3 percent from deep. Mirhosseini adds 2.00 3-pointers per game, which is tenth in the conference, and is 40-of-117 for 34.2 percent from beyond the arc on the year.
• Padrino is fourth in the conference with an 84.3 percent clip from the charity stripe, knocking down 70-of-83 from the free throw line.
• Harris leads the Bobcats on the glass with an average of 5.6 rebounds per game. He has secured a pair of double figure rebounding performances, leading to one double-double.
• Mirhosseini is the facilitator of the WVWC offense, dishing out 68 total assists and an average of 3.4 per game which ranks seventh in the conference. He has notched four or more assists on seven occasions.
• Padrino ranks sixth in the conference with 31 total steals and is ninth with an average of 1.48 per game. He has collected multiple steals in eight games.
• Derek Sloan is in his third season as the head coach at West Virginia Wesleyan, posting a career record of 6-70 during his time with the Bobcats.

SERIES HISTORY

• West Liberty leads the all-time series 77-67 and has won 26 of the last 27 meetings dating back to 2010-11.
• In the last match-up, the Hilltoppers won their seventh straight over the Bobcats with a 125-69 victory inside the ASRC on November 29, 2023.
• Zach Rasile scored a career-high 24 points in the win while shooting 7-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Ben Sarson also added 18 points in the game and secured seven rebounds while dishing out three assists and collecting two blocked shots.