WHEELING – Just three days after being elevated to No. 1 in the NCAA Division II men’s basketball rankings, West Liberty University went down to a stunning defeat at the hands of backyard neighbor Wheeling Jesuit University on Wednesday night at the jam-packed Alma Grace McDonough Center
Steve Catich capped off a brilliant 33-point, 10-rebound performance by swishing six straight free throws in the final minute to put the finishing touches on a 109-99 victory by the Cardinals that snapped the Toppers’ 60-game conference winning streak and triggered a wild celebration by the home fans after the final second had ticked off the clock.
The delirious spectators poured out on the court and embraced the Cardinals players who were enjoying their first victory in this always-passionate rivalry since Feb. 2 of the 2009 season.
West Liberty, a Final-Four participant last spring, had beaten Wheeling Jesuit seven straight times and captured 14 of the last 15 meetings. This loss also prevented Coach Jim Crutchfield’s team from being the first WVIAC club to post back-to-back unbeaten records in the conference. The Hilltoppers overall record this season fell to 25-2 as their nation’s best 23-game winning streak came to end. Their only other loss was by an 84-80 score in overtime at the hands of Findlay College.
”I thought Wheeling played extremely well and the biggest exclamation mark on that is they shot the ball extremely well from behind the 3-point line,” Crutchfield said. ”They are hard enough to handle inside but when they shoot 60 percent (14 of 23) from the 3, they are a tough team to beat.”
The Cardinals (19-8 overall and 15-6 WVIAC), received an added bonus when Alderson-Broaddus lost on the road to Seton Hill, enabling Coach Danny Sancomb’s club to move into third place overall in the WVIAC and possibly move a step closer to earning an NCAA Division II postseason tournament berth.
”We’ll see,” Sancomb said when asked about WJU’s hopes of extending its season beyond next week’s conference tournament. ”This win obviously helps as a lot but I don’t like to look too far into the future.
”We’ll enjoy this, but at 4 o’clock (today) we’ll start preparing for A-B on Saturday. If we can win our next game and do well in the conference tournament, then we’ll see what happens.”
While many across the NCAA D-II basketball world may looking at this result with shock, Sancomb insisted he believed his players could knock off the Hilltoppers.
”After we lost to them up there, I felt like we could beat them the next time. I know a lot of people didn’t give us a chance but our guys believed we could do it,” he said.
The Cardinals led through most of the second half after an up-and-down first 20 minutes that saw the score tied six times and the advantage change hands on 10 occasions.
Wheeling drained 8 of 14 from 3-point land in the opening half as Recardo Gaddy swished four while scoring 16 of his 20 points.
Shawn Dyer’s 3-pointer and runner in the lane from Cedric Harris put West Liberty up 42-38 with 5 minutes left in the half. But Catich, as he would nearly every time the Hilltoppers made a run, responded by knocking down a 3, Ben Siefert added a free throw and Catich scored on a stickback to put the Cardinals back in front. Gaddy’s trey and a transition goal by Obi Ukwuoma helped WJU open the halftime lead to 51-43.
Wheeling went on to build a 55-43 cushion early in the second half before the Hilltoppers unleashed some 3-point madness of their own. Their next four baskets were from beyond the arc, one each by Tim Hausfeld, Alex Falk, Harris and Chris Morrow, making it a one-point game at 56-55.
However, with Joe Prati scoring 13 of his 16 points and Catich connecting for 19 of his 33, the Cardinals had the answer to every Hilltoppers run.
Falk, who fired in 19 of his 28 points after halftime, tied the score for the final time at 65-65 with a pair of free throws at the 11:42 mark. Catich responded with still another 3-pointer from the corner. West Liberty rallied back within two at 70-68 with 10 minutes remaining, however, 3s from Prati and Pete Brogden extended the lead out to eight.
Dyer cut the deficit to 100-96 with 1:20 on the clock but Catich went to the foul line three straight times after pulling down rebounds on missed Hilltoppers shots and he hit all six attempts to put the game out of reach.
”The kids really were focused in executing the game plan,” Sancomb said “Every time they had a run, it seemed like we had an answer.”
Joining Catich, Gaddy and Prati in double figures for the Cardinals were Siefert with 14 points, followed by Marquis Moore with 11 and Brogdon with 10.
Crutchfield pointed to West Liberty’s troubles defensively as being another reason for the loss.
”It was one of those games when you have to score on every possession to stay in it. We needed more stops,” he said. ”We can look back at a turnover here and a missed shot there but it was the lack of stops that made the difference. It seemed like they were scoring on four-fifths of their possessions and it’s tough to win a basketball game when they are doing that.”
Trailing most of the night, the Hilltoppers were forced to yank up a total 41 treys, connecting on 18. Falk was 6 of 9 while Hausfeld 5 five of 13 as he struggled to find some open room.
”Hausfeld is a great shooter and he can make shots from anywhere,” Sancomb pointed out. ”The Falk kid is a winner. He just plays with a lot of heart and a lot of passion. But I think our zone was able to take them out of their transition a little bit and made them play more of a half-court game.”
Dyer finished with 20 points, followed by Hausfeld’s 15 and 14 from CJ Hester, who also pulled down 13 rebounds. Harris finished with 10 points.
”Honestly, it’s not like we had a major struggle offensively,” Crutchfield noted. ”We made a fair share of our shots and got enough looks to win.
”But they did what they needed to do which was play hard. The ball was loose three or four times at crucial times down the stretch and they came up with everyone of them and they led to baskets or free throws.”
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