ELKINS, W.Va. – The unbeaten and No. 1-ranked West Liberty University men’s basketball team lit up another scoreboard Thursday night, blasting Davis & Elkins, 120-61, on the Senators’ home boards.
Coach Jim Crutchfield’s Hilltoppers (11-0, 5-0) used an early 16-2 burst to grab a double-digit lead and never looked back in handing Davis & Elkins (1-7, 1-5) its third straight loss.
West Liberty was in total control, 36-13, by the 10-minute mark of the opening half and kept the pedal to the metal for the remainder of the period to take a 70-32 edge into the locker room at halftime.
The Hilltoppers hit the century mark for the seventh straight game on back-to-back breakaway dunks by Keene Cockburn, making it 103-56 with 7:40 to go in the second half and the West Liberty reserves continued to build on the margin until the final buzzer.
The visitors shot 57 percent (46-of-81) from the floor and were extremely efficient on offense, handing out 26 assists while committing a season-low 4 turnovers.
The outmanned Senators finished with more turnovers (27) than field goals (24).
Alex Falk led a balanced WLU attack that saw all 12 Hilltoppers score at least 4 points. Falk had 17 points in just 18 minutes of action while Chris Morrow and Bubby Goodwin turned in 15 and 14 points, respectively. C.J. Hester added 13 points, Shawn Dyer chipped in with 12 and Cockburn rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points and a team-high 7 rebounds.
Davis & Elkins got 16 points and 7 rebounds from Igor Premasunac but Shane Brown was the only other double-figure scorer for the hosts with 10 points.
West Liberty returns home to host Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at the ASRC.
GAME NOTES
X Jim Crutchfield is now 11-0 against Davis & Elkins
X The Hilltoppers are 65-1 in their last 66 West Virginia Conference games, dating back to the 2009-10 season
X West Liberty leads the nation in scoring at 116.4 ppg. and has posted seven consecutive 100-point games
X The Hilltoppers have won those 7 games by an average score of 127-78
x West Liberty has shot better than 50 percent from the floor in 10 of its 11 games this season
x The Hilltoppers are 128-5 (.962) when shooting better than 50 percent from the floor during the Crutchfield Era
