No. 12 Hilltoppers Bury Concord in Second Half

ATHENS, W.Va. – West Liberty University’s high-flying men’s basketball team failed to break the 150-point barrier here Saturday afternoon when Coach Jim Crutchfield’s No. 12-ranked Hilltoppers opened the West Virginia Conference portion of their schedule at Concord’s Carter Center.

They settled for 149.

West Liberty (3-0, 1-0) used another virtuoso shooting performance to bomb the host Mountain Lions (0-4, 0-3) into submission with a 149-93 victory.

The Hilltoppers made a blistering 60 percent (21-of-35) of their 3-point tries, shot 59 percent (50-of-85) from the floor and cashed in 82 percent (28-of-34 of their free throws while outrebounding their hosts by a 53-35 margin and forcing Concord into 24 turnovers.

The Mountain Lions kept things close for much of the first half, trailing just 39-37 with 8:30 remaining, but West Liberty reeled off 10 unanswered points to push the lead to 49-37 and Concord never recovered.

The visitors took a 69-55 lead into the locker room at intermission before blowing the game open with an 80-point second half.

Barry Shetzer led six double-figure scorers for the Hilltoppers with 27 points. Alex Falk added a career-high 23 points while Jordan Fortney notched the first double-double of his career with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Fortney also weighed in with a game-high 6 assists.

Corey Pelle had 15 points while John Wolosinczuk and Mike Lopez hit for 11 points each.

Javaughn Acree-Manuel led all scorers for Concord with 31 points.

West Liberty returns home to host Alderson-Broaddus Tuesday night in a rematch of an NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional tournament game from last year. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the ASRC.  

Game Notes
    X After lighting up the scoreboard for 154 and 157 points in their first two games, the Hilltoppers saw their scoring average drop to 153.3 ppg.
    X Pelle surpassed the 1,400-point career mark on Saturday and now ranks 19th all-time on the West Liberty scoring list with 1,414 points
    X This was the Hilltoppers’ first win at Concord under Crutchfield. West Liberty had lost both previous games in Athens since Crutchfield took the helm in 2004-05
    X It was the second straight time the Hilltoppers broke the 140-point barrier against the Mountain Lions. West Liberty beat Concord, 142-62, at the ASRC in their only meeting a year ago (Jan. 23, 2010)