West Liberty, W.Va. – The No. 13 West Liberty University men's basketball team looks to open their run at the 2024 MEC Tournament in Friday's quarterfinal match-up against Glenville State. The Hilltoppers, who are the 2-time defending tournament champions, are set for a 2:30 p.m. tip-off against the Pioneers at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling.
 
GAME DETAILS

• Location: Wheeling, West Virginia (WesBanco Arena)
• Tip-Off: 2:30 P.M.
• Topper Takeover: Join Hilltopper fans at Topper Takeover at River City Restaurant & Bar in downtown Wheeling two hours prior to tip-off.

#13 WEST LIBERTY STORYLINES

• West Liberty enters Friday's quarterfinal match-up in the MEC Tournament with a record of 23-5 (17-3 MEC) following an 107-92 win at Wheeling in Wednesday's regular season finale.
• The Hilltoppers clinched a share of their 14^th regular season conference title in the past 15 seasons, and they earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament via the tiebreaker.
• With the release of the all-conference teams and awards, Christian Montague earned First Team All-MEC honors while John Korte and Zach Rasile were named Second Team All-MEC. Kyler D'Augustino was recognized as the MEC Freshman of the Year.
• After extending their win streak to eight games with a pair of MEC wins last week, WLU rose one spot to No. 13 in Tuesday's NABC Top-25 Coaches' Poll. In the NCAA Atlantic Regional poll, they remained at No. 4 for the second consecutive week and final release leading up to selection Sunday.
• Since 2010 the Black & Gold have posted the best overall winning percentage in NCAA basketball (430-55, .887) and have the best home winning percentage (233-11, .955).
• Through 28 games WLU is averaging 98.9 points, 39.1 rebounds, 23.2 assists, 11.3 steals, and 2.9 blocks per game, while shooting the ball 47.2 percent from the field, 35.4 percent from 3-point range, and 75.4 percent from the free throw line.
• The Hilltoppers lead NCAA Division II in assist/turnover ratio (2.03), assists per game (23.2), bench points per game (45.32), 3-point attempts per game (34.6), and 3-pointers per game (12.2). They also rank second in scoring margin (+19.2) and are third in turnover margin (+8.8).
• 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 (103.3 ppg) is led by Jordan Fee who played at WLU from 2010-12, Nova Southeastern (102.3 ppg) is led by former WLU head coach Jim Crutchfield who was on the sidelines from 2004-17, and Coker (100.1 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 Christian Montague and Zach Rasile with 11.4 points per game apiece. Joining them are Ben Sarson (11.0), John Korte (10.9), and Chaz Hinds (10.5).
• 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 2.39 3-pointers per game, ranking fourth in the MEC. He is joined by Rasile and Montague who are seventh and 11^th with 2.22 and 2.00 3-pointers, and Dante Spadafora is 12^th with 1.96 3-pointers per game.
• Spadafora leads the team at 44.0 percent from beyond the arc on 51-of-116 shooting while Hinds is 67-of-170 for 39.4 percent.
• The Hilltoppers have reached double digit made 3-pointers in 19 of their 28 games this year. Additionally, WLU has connected on 15 or more 3-pointers in eight 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 tenth in free throw percentage as he has knocked down 105-of-132 shots from the charity stripe for 79.5 percent. Spadafora and Rasile are also a pair of five players who shoot better than 80 percent from the free throw line, going 53-of-61 (86.9%) and 36-of-43 (83.7%) respectively.
• Korte leads WLU on the glass with 6.2 rebounds per game, ranking eighth in the league, while West is second on the team with an average of 4.6. The pair has grabbed four or more boards in 20 and 17 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 2.00 offensive rebounds.
• Montague ranks fourth in the MEC dishing out 122 total assists and an average of 4.4 assists per game, while West ranks eighth with 96 total and an average of 3.6. The pair has tallied five or more assists in 13 and seven games respectively.
• West's 3.56 assist/turnover ratio ranks fourth in DII as he has dished out 96 assists compared to only 27 turnovers. Montague also ranks 30^th nationally with a 2.49 assist/turnover ratio, totaling 122 assists compared to 49 turnovers.
• The WLU defense is spearheaded by the trio of Spadafora, West, and Montague who rank second, fourth, and fifth respectively in the MEC in steals per game. Spadafora has collected 1.73 steals per game while West and Montague add 1.59 and 1.57 steals per game. West has recorded 14 multi-steal games while Montague and Spadafora have 13 and 12.
• Sarson leads the team with an average of 1.08 blocks per game and a total of 26 blocked shots this season, ranking seventh and ninth in the MEC. He has recorded eight games with multiple blocks.
• Ben Howlett is in his seventh season as the head coach at West Liberty with a record of 184-30 (.860) 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 Friday's quarterfinal game at the MEC Tournament with a record of 14-15 (8-12 MEC) following a 95-59 win over Frostburg State in the first round tournament match-up on Wednesday evening.
• The Pioneers finished the regular season in a tie for seventh place in the league standings with Notre Dame, and they earned the No. 7 seed in the conference tournament via the tiebreaker.
• With the release of the all-conference teams and awards, Jordan Turbo Smith was named to the All-MEC Second Team while Devin Collins was recognized as All-MEC Honorable Mention.
• Through 29 games GSU is averaging 82.3 points, 41.8 rebounds, 14.8 assists, 6.3 steals, and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting the ball 42.7 percent from the field, 33.7 percent from 3-point range, and 70.8 percent from the free throw line.
• Glenville State ranks within the top-25 of NCAA Division II in four statistical categories, ranking ninth in defensive rebounds per game (28.83), tenth in rebounds per game (41.76), 12^th in 3-point attempts per game (28.6), and 14^th in bench points per game (32.97).
• Jordan Turbo Smith leads the team in scoring with 14.4 points per game while Devin Collins (13.6) and Dominiq Penn (12.6) round out the three players averaging double figures.
• Collins is fifth in the conference with 2.31 3-pointers per game, knocking down 67-of-163 (41.1%) on the season. Penn and Smith are also players to watch from beyond the arc, ranking sixth and eighth in the league with 2.26 and 2.21 3-pointers per game.
• Collins and Trevor Chandler lead the Pioneers on the glass with 5.5 and 5.2 rebounds per game respectively.
• Smith is the facilitator of the GSU offense, averaging 5.4 assists per game, which is second in the MEC and 17^th nationally.
• Smith also ranks sixth in the league in steals per game, averaging 1.50 per contest.
• Chandler is the rim protector for the Pioneers, ranking ninth in the conference with 0.93 blocks per game.
• Bob Bolen is in his first season as the head coach at Glenville State with a record of 14-15 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 503-140 in his 20^th season as a head coach.

SERIES HISTORY

• West Liberty leads the all-time series 79-71 and has won 30 of the last 31 games, including 20 straight.
• The Hilltoppers recorded the regular season sweep with a 77-73 win at the Waco Center in Glenville, West Virginia, on February 21, 2024.
• Chaz Hinds led the way with 14 points and three 3-pointers while Finley Woodward added 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and four rebounds.