West Liberty and Wheeling Jesuit will meet for the third time tonight with a spot in the WVIAC championship game in the balance.
For the Hilltoppers, an NCAA Tournament berth and home court in the Atlantic Regional have been pretty much locked up. They will be looking for back-to-back-to-back tournament championships while the Cardinals hope to lock an NCAA At-Large berth with a victory over the hated rivals.
West Liberty (28 – 1, 21 – 1 WVIAC) is led by WVIAC Player of the Year, Alex Faulk (20.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG) and former Cardinal, Cedric Harris (17.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG). Eight of their players have taken over 50 3-point attempts each, and all have made over 30% of them which has helped lead the Hilltoppers to the top of the point’s ladder in DII for the past few years.
Wheeling Jesuit (19 – 9, 14 – 8 WVIAC) is one of the hottest teams in the nation, winning 11 of their last 13 contests (both losses to West Liberty). They have recovered, nicely, after losing 5 of their first 8 contests to start the season. They are led by WVIAC Freshman of the Year, Justin Fritts (15.7 PPG, 3.2 RPG) and guard, Ben Seifert (15.4 PPG, 6.6 APG).
In the first matchup of the year, Jesuit had the Hilltoppers on the ropes late into the first half, until a late West Liberty run gave them a 7 point advantage going into the locker room. The Cardinals would mount another run in the second half but West Liberty would hold on for a 5 point victory. The Cardinals were led by Ben Siefert with 25 points and 8 assists and Andre Harris with 24 points and 5 rebounds. The Hilltoppers were led by Alex Faulk with 27 points and 9 rebounds and Tim Hausfeld with 17 points and 5 threes.
The second matchup was nothing like the competitive first as West Liberty dominated Jesuit in the second half in route to a 101 – 76 victory and a #1 ranking in the nation. The game was only a 7 point Hilltopper advantage at the half at 46 – 39, but they used a strong second half and outscored their rivals 55 – 37 going away. This seems to be the norm when Jesuit steps into the ASRC, they have never found a rhythm in that gym to keep competitive.
This will be the eighth time the two teams meet in the conference tournament with WJU holding a slim 4-to-3 advantage which includes a Jesuit 90 – 67 victory in the 2005 championship game. The two teams last met in the 2011 Quarterfinals where the #1 seeded Hilltoppers defeated the #8 seed Cardinals 87 – 77.
This rivalry has gained ground since head coaches, Dan Sancomb and Jim Crutchfield took the helms at their schools. They both have made this rivalry one of the best in DII basketball and have put both schools on the national map. Even ESPN and CBS Sports Network have done the games in the past with ESPN.com broadcasting a game in 2007 at Jesuit and CBS Sports Network broadcasting a game at the ASRC in 2009.
Crutchfield boasts an impressive 235 – 44 record in his ninth season, which includes a DII elite 8 appearance in 2012 and a final 4 appearance in 2011. Sancomb is 101 – 73 in his sixth season and has taken his squad to the big dance once with a record of 1 – 1.
Crutchfield owns a 13 – 2 record over Sancomb, but Sancomb’s club did knock off a #1 rated Hilltopper squad to finish last season. The other Sancomb victory came in 2008 which ended in a scuffle on the court and both coaches in each other’s faces.
Don’t be surprised if this isn’t the last time these two meet this season. If the Cardinals can make the NCAA’s, they could face the Hilltoppers once more.
