CHARLESTON – The biggest Hilltopper stood tall and the smallest Hilltopper came up big once again Thursday night as unbeaten and No. 1-ranked West Liberty pulled away to an 87-77 victory against upset-minded Wheeling Jesuit in a West Virginia Conference Tournament quarterfinal.
On one of the worst shooting nights of the season for the nation’s highest-scoring team, senior center John Wolosinczuk muscled in a season-high 24 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds while diminutive sophomore guard Tim Hausfeld went 4-for-5 from behind the 3-point arc and added 20 points to lead Coach Jim Crutchfield’s West Virginia Conference champions to their 27th consecutive win.
Senior guard Corey Pelle – the WVIAC Player of the Year – was virtually unstoppable down the stretch and finished with 17 points along with game-highs of 7 assists and 4 steals.
“I’m probably as relieved as I am excited,” Crutchfield said after watching his Hilltoppers overcome their largest second-half deficit of the season. “We had a bad shooting night but Wheeling Jesuit had a lot to do with that. We had to show we were capable of doing other things.”
One of those “other things” Crutchfield was referring to was playing defense.
As has been the case in so many West Liberty games this season, Thursday’s game turned on a 12-0 Hilltopper surge during the latter stages of the second half.
This wasn’t the typical West Liberty blitz, however. The Hilltoppers held Wheeling Jesuit scoreless from the 9:38 mark of the second half until just 2:20 remained in the game. That span of 7-plus minutes enabled WLU to turn a 66-62 deficit into a 74-66 lead coming down the stretch.
The Cardinals hit a couple of late 3-pointers to make things interesting but with the scoring ice finally broken, West Liberty poured in 13 points in the final 1:45 to put the game away.
The 5-7 Hausfeld scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half to help pick up senior standouts Jordan Fortney and Barry Shetzer, the Hilltoppers’ nationally-ranked 3-point shooting tandem who drew special attention from the ball-hawking Cardinal defense.
“It’s a credit to Wheeling to hold two great shooters like Jordan and Barry to a combined 0-for-13 on 3-point shots,” Crutchfield said. “That’s not going to happen very often to guys like that but it also speaks well for their teammates that they were able to find a way to get the job done.”
Wolosinczuk’s 24 points and 14 rebounds was the fifth WVIAC Tournament double-double of the 6-7 senior standout’s West Liberty career, a statistic which didn’t surprise Crutchfield in the least.
“That’s what John has done for us the last three years,” Crutchfield said. “In big games, he pulls big rebounds. He had 11 defensive boards tonight and I thought his defensive rebounding was a big factor in that long stretch where Wheeling didn’t score in the second half.”
The Cardinals got 19 points from Recardo Gaddy while Ben Siefert and Steve Catich added 16 and 15 points, respectively.
West Liberty advances to Friday night’s 8:30 p.m. semifinal against No. 5-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan, which knocked off No. 4-seeded Fairmont State, 93-76, in Thursday’s last quarterfinal.
The Hilltoppers swept the season series from W.Va. Wesleyan by scores of 130-103 and 122-86.
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