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Hilltoppers Sign Two Ohio Standouts

WEST LIBERTY — West Liberty University coach Jim Crutchfield’s Hilltoppers again occupy the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Division II national coaches’ poll, but the veteran court boss is probably more excited about the two Ohio high school stars who will be joining the West Liberty program next season.

Marlon Moore, a 6-foot-5 forward from Cleveland St. Benedictine High School, and Keegan Saben, a 6-3 guard from Centerville High School near Dayton, took advantage of the NCAA’s early signing period to take their athletic and academic careers to the next level at WLU in the fall.

“Both of these guys check all the boxes in terms of what we’re looking for in our program,” Crutchfield said. “They’re versatile, smart and aggressive. They can shoot the ball from the perimeter or attack the rim. They’ve competed successfully at a high level and they’ve won a lot of basketball games.

“On top of that, they’re quality young men who will be assets to the university on and off the court. We’re really looking forward to seeing them on the court at the ASRC next season.”

Moore, a powerfully built 6-5, 215-pounder, is coming off a breakout junior season that helped propel St. Benedictine on a deep postseason run all the way to an Ohio Division II regional championship game against perennial Buckeye State power Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.

The hard-working Moore almost single-handedly carried the Bengals into that regional final with a huge game against a 20-6 Perry team in the regional semifinal. Moore tortured the Pirates with 20 points 11 rebounds — six on the offensive boards — and three blocks as St. Benedictine raced off to a 67-54 victory.

After averaging nearly 11 points and 8 rebounds a night last season, Moore is regarded as one of the top returning players in the highly-competitive North Coast League and the Bengals are expected to challenge for an NCL title and another postseason run when their season tips off later this month.

“Marlon’s not just a 6-5 kid, he’s an explosive and highly-competitive young man with the frame and intensity to play bigger than 6-5,” Crutchfield said. “We’ll probably ask him to play inside here but he’s pretty highly skilled. Marlon rebounds well and finishes well inside but he also has a very good perimeter shot and can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim.”

Saben earned All-Conference honors as a freshman and sophomore at Kettering Alter High School in the Dayton area before the family moved to Centerville prior to his junior season. The talented combo guard earned first-team All-Greater Western Ohio Conference honors while leading the Elks to an Ohio Division I District title and regional championship game berth.

He averaged 17.8 points and 5.2 rebounds a game during the regular season and displayed a knack for getting to the charity stripe. Saben had three games with 30 or more points, highlighted by a 36-point night in a 70-66 come-from-behind victory against a Springfield team with two NCAA Division I recruits in the lineup. Nearly half of Saben’s points that night came from the foul line as he drained 17 of 18 from the line.

West Liberty Strengthens Hold on No. 1 Spot

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After winning its first four games by an average margin of better than 35 points a game, the West Liberty University men’s basketball team was a near-unanimous pick for No. 1 on Tuesday when the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) released its first NCAA Division II Top 25 poll of the regular season.

Coach Jim Crutchfield’s Hilltoppers (5-0), who had been ranked No. 1 in the NABC preseason poll, received 14 of the 15 first-place votes in Tuesday’s nationwide balloting to strengthen their hold on the top rung of the rankings ladder.

This week’s poll includes results through Sunday’s games so Monday night’s 132-97 blowout of Urbana didn’t factor into the voting.

Not only is this West Liberty’s 44th No. 1 ranking in the past seven seasons – by far the most of any program during that span – it is WLU’s 77th consecutive Top 10 ranking, dating back to Dec. 13, 2011. That breaks the previous NCAA Division II record of 76 consecutive Top 10 rankings, set by Grambling from Jan. 5, 1961 to March 9, 1967.

It’s also the Hilltoppers’ 37th straight Top 5 ranking, dating back to Jan. 10, 2012. That’s the second-longest Top 5 run in NCAA Division II poll history with Grambling having been ranked in the Top 5 for 40 consecutive weeks, from March 2, 1961 to Jan. 28, 1965.

Crutchfield’s crew already holds the record for consecutive weeks in the Top 25. This is the Black and Gold’s 99th consecutive appearance in the national Top 25. The previous record was 76 straight weeks, shared by Grambling and Salem International. Lincoln Memorial is currently No. 2 on that list with an active streak of 90 straight Top 25 rankings.

Saginaw Valley State, Mich. (4-0) moved up to No. 2 in this week’s poll with Northwest Missouri State picking up the lone remaining first-place vote to take over the No. 3 spot. Unbeaten Wheeling Jesuit and California Baptist round out this week’s Top 5.

The Mountain East Conference had three of the top eight teams in the nation at the end of the 2016 regular season and is off to a strong start again with West Liberty and Wheeling Jesuit occupying two of the top four spots and unbeaten Fairmont State knocking on the door at No. 14.

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