Wheeling, W.Va. – After a cold start shooting from the field which saw the No. 13 West Liberty University men's basketball team fall behind by double digits in the first half, the Hilltoppers battled back and secured their place in the MEC Tournament Championship game with a 77-71 victory over (RV) Concord on Saturday evening. WLU saw their lowest scoring output in single half this season in the first 20 minutes of action which included only a pair of 3-pointers, however they outscored the Mountain Lions by 15 points in the second half thanks to nearly 50 percent shooting from the field.

QUICK DETAILS
Final Score: No. 13 West Liberty 77, (RV) Concord 71
Team Records: No. 13 West Liberty 25-5 (17-3 MEC), (RV) Concord 22-7 (14-6 MEC)
Attendance: 1,500
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• West Liberty opened the contest with the first four points of the game off layups from John Korte and Christian Montague just a minute into the contest, however Concord quickly responded with five straight of their own to take their first lead of the game (5-4) with 17:37 to play in the first half.
• The slow start continued as the teams reached the under ten media timeout with 9:59 to play in the half as the Mountain Lions began to pull ahead 13-9, by shooting 5-of-12 from the field compared to only 3-of-15 from the Hilltoppers. Of WLU's nine points up to that point, six of them came off of seven CU turnovers.
• Concord extended their scoring run to 11-0 with a 3-pointer with just under nine minutes to play as they built an 18-9 advantage. Korte broke up the scoring run with a layup, however the Mountain Lions took their largest lead of the game at 15 points (30-15) as the run was pushed to 23-6 over the span of nearly nine minutes during the first half.
• Korte knocked down the first 3-pointer of the game for WLU with 3:42 to play in the half as the offense began to build traction entering the halftime break, outscoring CU 10-4 the final four minutes to cut the deficit to 34-25. The 25 points for West Liberty were a season-low in a half.
• The margin teetered back-and-forth between eight and 11 points in the early minutes of the second half until back-to-back layups by Alek West and Lanyc Shuler cut the deficit to six (42-36) with 16:03 to play as the momentum began to shift. Concord responded with a 3-pointer, however the Hilltopper run extended to 12-3 as the CU lead was down to one (45-44) with just over 14 minutes to play.
• The Mountain Lions briefly got their lead back up to six points (50-44), but a 3-pointer from Ben Sarson sparked another run as a basket from beyond the arc by Chaz Hinds tied the game for the first time at 52 apiece with 10:37 remaining.
• The Hilltoppers tied the game two more times at 58 and 60 with layups by Kyler D'Augustino, and he converted the old-fashioned 3-point play to give West Liberty their first lead since the opening minutes at 61-60 with 6:12 left to play.
• Concord managed to tie the game two more times at 66 and 69 apiece, however were never able to take the lead away from West Liberty. Korte made his first big play down the stretch with a 3-pointer from the left corner to put WLU up five with 53 seconds remaining and he knocked down a pair of free throws with eight seconds left on the clock as the Black & Gold closed the game on an 8-2 scoring run for a 77-71 victory.
• West Liberty shot 26-65 (40.0%) from the field, 7-of-22 (31.8%) from 3-point range, and 18-of-26 (69.2%) from the free throw line compared to 25-of-55 (45.5%) from the field, 6-of-15 (40.0%) from 3-point range, and 15-of-23 (65.2%) from the free throw line for Concord.
• The Hilltoppers held the advantage in points off turnovers (20-2), points in the paint (38-30), second chance points (11-10), fast break points (9-7), and bench points (21-20).
• Five WLU players knocked down a 3-pointer in the win, led by Hinds and Korte with two apiece.
• Leading three players in double figures was Korte with his third 20-point game of the season with a game-high 22 points on the night while D'Augustino and Montague added 12 and 11 respectively.

WEST LIBERTY STATISTICAL LEADERS
John Korte: 22 points, 8-of-9 free throws, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Kyler D'Augustino: 12 points, 5-of-7 field goals, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 block
Christian Montague: 11 points, 5-of-9 field goals, 6 rebounds, 1 assist
 
UP NEXT
West Liberty advances to the MEC Tournament Championship tomorrow against No. 12 Charleston. The Hilltoppers and Golden Eagles are slated for a 5 p.m. tip-off inside WesBanco Arena in Wheeling. The top-15 match-up for the automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional will be aired live on SportsNet Pittsburgh.