Wheeling, W.Va. – For the 11^th consecutive year, the No. 13 West Liberty University men's basketball team has advanced to the semifinals of the MEC Tournament as the Hilltoppers defeated Glenville State 103-82 on Friday afternoon at WesBanco Arena. The Black & Gold shot lights out in their postseason opener as they knocked down nine 3-pointers in the first ten minutes and never looked back as they went on to tie the tournament single game record with 18 in the contest. WLU shot a season-best 56.3 percent from deep in the game and improved to 11-0 on the season when shooting better than 50 percent from the field.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Final Score: No. 13 West Liberty 103, Glenville State 82
Team Records: No. 13 West Liberty 24-5 (17-3 MEC), Glenville State 14-16 (8-12 MEC)
Attendance: 500
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After Glenville State scored the first four points of the game, Ben Sarson got the offense rolling for West Liberty with the first of five three pointers entering the under 15 media timeout with a 17-14 lead with 14:22 to play in the first.
• A layup by the Pioneers with 12:40 to play in the first broke up a stretch of six unanswered by the Hilltoppers out of the timeout, however the run would be extended as Zach Rasile connected on his fourth shot from beyond the arc to push the lead to double figures (26-16) just moments later. A 3-pointer by Chaz Hinds leading up to the under ten media timeout pushed WLU's scoring run to 15-2 as the Black & Gold continued to shoot lights out from deep, connecting on nine of their first 13 attempts in only the first ten minutes of game time.
• A layup by Kyler D'Augustino, the MEC Freshman of the Year, gave West Liberty their largest lead of the first half at 17 points (40-23) with 7:20 to play till the break.
• Glenville State responded with an 8-2 scoring run to trim the Hilltopper lead to 11 points (42-31) with just under five minutes remaining in the opening half, but a 3-pointer by Dante Spadafora sparked a responding 8-2 run from the Black & Gold as Hinds put the lead back to 17 points (50-33) with 3:35 to play on the clock. The deep ball from Hinds marked the 12^th 3-pointer of the first half by WLU, matching their season average.
• John Korte closed out a back-and-forth finish to the opening half with a pair of free throws to give West Liberty the 57-40 advantage.
• Both teams started the second half red hot from the field as Glenville State was 8-of-10, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range, while West Liberty was 6-of-7 and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc entering the first media timeout as the Hilltoppers maintained a 72-60 lead with 14:08 to play in the contest.
• A jumper and a 3-pointer by the Pioneers in-between media timeouts cut the WLU lead down to single digits (72-65) for the first time since early in the first half, however a pair of layups by Korte and a 3-pointer from Spadafora marked seven unanswered for the Black & Gold and they would extend the run to 14-3 as a layup by Sarson gave West Liberty an 18 point (86-68) lead with 7:08 to play in regulation.
• GSU ended the scoring run with a pair of layups to momentarily trim their deficit to 14 points (86-72), but another shot from beyond the arc by Rasile sparked another scoring run of 10-3 to push the Hilltopper lead to more than 20 points for the first time as a jumper by Finley Woodward made it 96-75 with 3:39 to play.
• A layup by Grant Barnhart with 1:01 left on the clock pushed West Liberty over the 100 point plateau for the 14^th time this season and a pair of free throws by Spadafora gave the Hilltoppers their largest lead of the game at 24 points (103-79) before Glenville State knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a 103-82 final score as the final buzzer sounded
• West Liberty shot 36-of-69 (52.2%) from the field, 18-of-32 (56.3%) from 3-point range, and 13-of-21 (61.9%) from the free throw line compared to 31-of-68 (45.6%) from the field, 7-of-23 (30.4%) from 3-point range, and 13-of-17 (76.5%) from the free throw line for Glenville State.
• The Hilltoppers held the advantage in points off turnovers (24-16) and bench points (46-22) while the Pioneers held the edge in points in the paint (44-34), second chance points (16-9), and fast break points (11-8).
• Six WLU players knocked down a 3-pointer and contributed to tying the MEC Tournament single game record, led by Rasile with six from beyond the arc while Hinds and Sarson each hit three apiece.
• Leading six players in double figures scoring was Rasile with his fourth 20-point game of the season.

WEST LIBERTY STATISTICAL LEADERS
Zach Rasile: 20 points, 6-of-7 3-pointers, 2 steals, 1 rebound, 1 assist
John Korte: 16 points, 6-of-6 free throws, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 steal
Chaz Hinds: 13 points, 3-of-6 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist
 
UP NEXT
West Liberty advances to tomorrow night's MEC Tournament Semifinal match-up against (RV) Concord. The Hilltoppers and Mountain Lions are slated for a 8:30 p.m. tip-off inside WesBanco Arena in Wheeling.