West Liberty, W.Va. – The No. 14 West Liberty University men's basketball team looks to enter the postseason with momentum as they enter Saturday's match-up at Wheeling having won seven straight and 14 of their last 16 games to close the regular season. The Hilltoppers and Cardinals are set for a 4 p.m. tip-off inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center in Wheeling.
 
GAME DETAILS

• Location: Wheeling, West Virginia (Alma Grace McDonough Center)
• Tip-Off: 4 P.M.

#14 WEST LIBERTY STORYLINES

• West Liberty enters Saturday's regular season finale with a record of 22-5 (16-3 MEC) following an 88-87 win over Notre Dame on Wednesday evening.
• The Hilltoppers are currently in second place in the league standings.
• After extending their win streak to six games with a pair of MEC wins last week, WLU rose six spots to No. 14 in Tuesday's NABC Top-25 Coaches' Poll.
• Since 2010 the Black & Gold have posted the best overall winning percentage in NCAA basketball (429-55, .886) and have the best home winning percentage (233-11, .955).
• Through 26 games WLU is averaging 98.6 points, 39.2 rebounds, 23.1 assists, 11.4 steals, and 2.8 blocks per game, while shooting the ball 47.3 percent from the field, 34.9 percent from 3-point range, and 74.8 percent from the free throw line.
• The Hilltoppers lead NCAA Division II in assist/turnover ratio (1.98), assists per game (23.1), bench points per game (44.89), and 3-point attempts per game (34.7). They also rank second in 3-pointers per game (12.1) and are third in scoring margin (+19.4), turnover margin (+8.6) and turnovers forced per game (20.26).
• 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 (104.3 ppg) is led by Jordan Fee who played at WLU from 2010-12, Nova Southeastern (102.9 ppg) is led by former WLU head coach Jim Crutchfield who was on the sidelines from 2004-17, and Coker (101.1 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 11.5 and 11.2 points respectively. Ben Sarson (10.7) 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 2.33 3-pointers per game, ranking fifth in the MEC. He is joined by Rasile and Montague who are seventh and 11^th with 2.31 and 2.04 3-pointers, and Dante Spadafora is 12^th with 1.96 3-pointers per game.
• Spadafora leads the team at 43.8 percent from beyond the arc on 49-of-112 shooting while Rasile is 60-of-155 for 38.7 percent.
• The Hilltoppers have reached double digit made 3-pointers in 18 of their 27 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 ninth in free throw percentage as he has knocked down 105-of-131 shots from the charity stripe for 80.2 percent. Spadafora and Rasile 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 36-of-43 (83.7%) respectively.
• Korte leads WLU on the glass with 6.1 rebounds per game while West is second on the team with an average of 4.6. The pair has grabbed four or more boards in 19 and 16 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 1.93 offensive rebounds.
• Montague ranks third in the MEC dishing out 116 total assists and is fourth with an average of 4.3 assists per game, while West ranks seventh with an average of 3.7 assists per game and is eighth with 95 total assists. The pair has tallied five or more assists in 12 and seven games respectively.
• West's 3.52 assist/turnover ratio ranks fifth in DII as he has dished out 95 assists compared to only 27 turnovers. Montague also ranks 36^th nationally with a 2.47 assist/turnover ratio, totaling 116 assists compared to 47 turnovers.
• The WLU defense is spearheaded by the trio of Spadafora, Montague, and West who rank second, fourth, and sixth respectively in the MEC in steals per game. Spadafora has collected 1.80 steals per game while Montague and West add 1.63 and 1.58 steals per game. Montague and West have recorded 13 multi-steal games while Spadafora has on 12 occasions.
• Sarson leads the team with an average of 1.00 blocks per game and a total of 23 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 183-30 (.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.

WHEELING STORYLINES

• Wheeling enters Saturday's regular season finale with a record of 10-16 (6-13 MEC) following a 96-90 win at Salem on Wednesday afternoon.
• The Cardinals are currently ninth place in the league standings.
• Through 26 games WU is averaging 81.6 points, 36.9 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 6.6 steals, and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting the ball 44.5 percent from the field, 36.7 percent from 3-point range, and 75.5 percent from the free throw line.
• Marcus Johnson leads the conference with 21.2 points per game and ranks 18^th in DII. He is joined in double figures scoring by Sean Ealy and S.J. Hutchinson who are averaging 13.8 and 10.4 points.
• Johnson ranks third in the conference with 2.44 3-pointers per game as he has shot the ball 61-of-136 (44.9%) from beyond the arc. Hutchinson is another player to watch as he is 25-of-51 (49.0%) from distance.
• Johnson ranks second in the conference on the glass with an average of 7.7 rebounds per game while Kevin Coleman Jr. adds 5.0 boards per game.
• Johnson averages a team-high of 3.2 assists per game, ranking ninth in the league as he has totaled 80 on the year.
• Coleman Jr. is the rim protector for the Cardinals, averaging 1.36 blocks per game and totaling 30 on the season, ranking fourth and sixth in the MEC in the respective categories.
• Chris Richardson is in his fourth season as the head coach at Wheeling with a 32-71 career record during his time with the Cardinals.

SERIES HISTORY

• West Liberty leads the all-time series 99-70 and has won 12 of the last 13 meetings.
• The teams last met on January 28, 2024 in the ASRC where the Hilltoppers earned a 123-76 victory.