No. 1 West Liberty 100, Fairmont State 77
Two-time defending Atlantic Region champion West Liberty (32-1) shot a blistering 68 percent from the floor in the second half to earn its fourth straight trip to the Atlantic Region championship game with a blowout win against No. 4-seeded West Virginia Conference rival Fairmont State (23-9).
The Falcons never led but kept things close for most of the first half only to see Coach Jim Crutchfield’s Hilltoppers score 15 of the final 18 points to take a 42-27 halftime lead.
West Liberty picked up where it had left off when play resumed and pushed the lead out to 72-51 on a Shawn Dyer free throw at 9:57 before Fairmont State responded with a last desperate surge.
The talented Falcons, WVIAC regular-season and tournament runner-ups, took off on a 15-4 run over the next two minutes with Stevie Browning’s 3-pointer at the 7:47 mark cutting the lead to 76-66 and bringing the Fairmont State fans to their feet.
The Black and Gold let the air out of that rally with a 16-1 burst over the next 3 minutes. Chris Morrow’s fast break layup on a feed from Atlantic Region Player of the Year Alex Falk gave WLU its largest lead of the night, 92-67, and put the game out of reach with 4:30 to go.
Falk’s game-high 21 points paced a typically balanced attack for the Hilltoppers. Morrow finished with 17 points despite sitting out much of the first half with foul problems while C.J. Hester just missed a double-double with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Tim Hausfeld added 13 points, Dyer finished with a dozen and Cedric Harris knocked down 8 points and handed out a game-high 7 assists.
Malik Stith had 18 points while Brendan Cooper added 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for Fairmont State, which suffered its fourth loss of the season in as many tries against West Liberty.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Tournament
(at West Liberty, W.Va.)
Saturday, March 16
Regional Quarterfinals
Afternoon Session
Indiana, Pa. 76, East Stroudsburg 68
Slippery Rock 69, Winston-Salem State 67
Evening Session
WEST LIBERTY 114, Bowie State 82
Fairmont State 91, Livingstone 73
Sunday, March 17
Regional Semifinals
Indiana, Pa. 53, Slippery Rock 50
WEST LIBERTY 100, Fairmont State 77
Tuesday, March 19
Regional Championship
No. 3 Indiana, Pa. (26-5) vs. NO. 1 WEST LIBERTY (32-1), 7 p.m.
