No. 3 West Liberty 119, East Stroudsburg 82
The top-seeded Hilltoppers (30-2) jetted out to a double-digit lead in the first 5 minutes and went on to blast the No. 8-seeded Warriors (20-12) in a rematch of the WVIAC and PSAC Tournament champions.
East Stroudsburg had battled West Liberty to the wire before dropping a 96-92 decision in a mutual season opener on Nov. 12 but the Hilltoppers wasted little time removing any suspense from Saturday’s matchup.
West Liberty opened up a 12-2 lead on a Cedric Harris jumper as the first-half clock ticked past the 15-minute mark and pushed the count to 26-12 on a deep Tim Hausfeld 3-pointer at 10:05.
The margin never dropped below double-digits the rest of the night as the Hilltoppers opened up a whopping 64-36 halftime lead. Head coach Jim Crutchfield began pulling his starters at the 11-minute mark of the second half as the lead grew as high as 39 points down the stretch.
Harris led eight double-figure scorers for the winners with 21 points and 9 assists – both game-highs. Hausfeld and Alex Falk added 15 and 14 points, respectively, while fellow starters C.J. Hester and Chris Morrow chimed in with a dozen each. Keene Cockburn tossed in 13 off the bench while Shawn Dyer (12) and Mike Lopez (11) also hit double-figures in a reserve role.
Senior Eric Bryan led five double-figure scorers for East Stroudsburg with 15 points.
