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West Liberty Men Move On In Atlantic Region Tournament

Toppers Overcome 11-Point Deficit

Photo by Kyle Lutz Luke Dyer goes up for a shot while East Stroudsburg Jakwan Jones defends during the opening round of the Atlantic Regional Tournament on Saturday at the Kovalchick Convention on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

INDIANA, Pa. — Even facing an 11-point deficit — its largest of the season — at halftime, the atmosphere in West Liberty’s locker room was positive.

And that positivity transitioned into the second half. Scoring the first seven points of the second half, the Hilltoppers were back in business. Dalton Bolon tallied a team-high 29 points while Evan French came off the bench and hit five 3-pointers as West Liberty defeated East Stroudsburg, 106-99 in overtime in a quarterfinal matchup at the Atlantic Regional Tournament Saturday at the Kovalchick Convention on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

The Hilltoppers (27-4) will face Virginia State today at 5 p.m. The Trojans defeated Notre Dame College, 89-81 in the first game of the tournament.

“Everything was positive,” West Liberty coach Ben Howlett said about the mood. “From the coaches to the players, they were extremely positive saying, ‘We’re fine. We’re fine. We got the ball in the second half.’ I thought the first 10 minutes of the second half was very good basketball on our end.

“Our pressure started to develop some turnovers and we got them sped up a little bit. Even though they play this way, I thought we sped them up and they started making some bad decisions with the basketball.”

The Hilltoppers took their first lead of the second half after a conventional 3-point play by Eric Meininger with 9:51 left in regulation as the score read 64-63.

He totaled 19 points, all of them coming in the second half while dishing out eight assists.

French tied the game a couple minutes earlier with his fifth and final 3-pointer of the contest.

His other 3-pointers in the contest came at some crucial moments as he helped chip away at the lead.

“I just came in and tried to help out the team however I could. I knew I had to make my minutes count. That’s what they put me in to do and they went over it at practice that I was probably going to get a couple open looks and I just came in with the mindset that if I got the ball, I was going to be ready to let it fly.”

The Hilltoppers had a chance for a buzzer beater as they had the final possession in regulation after a Troy Jones bucket, but could not get a shot off.

The Warriors (21-8) took an early lead in the extra period as they scored six of the first eight points as the score read 96-92 with 3:06 remaining.

After a pair of Yahel Hill free throws, Luke Dyer put the Hilltoppers up to stay with a big 3-pointer with 2:27 remaining, 97-96.

Bolon then made it a two-possession game with his fifth 3-pointer of the game with 53 seconds left to make it 102-97.

A pair of free throws by Ryan Smith cut it to a one-possession game, but West Liberty hit 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to put the game on ice.

It was also Howlett’s first regional win since he took over as coach.

“For them being a seven seed, I think they are a really good seven seed,” Howlett said. “I think they’re better than their record indicates. They lost two games early and they went on some runs. I think we beat a really good basketball team and their freshman Ryan Smith is unbelievable.”

Smith, the PSAC East Freshman of the Year, led the way for East Stroudsburg as he tallied a double-double with 30 points and 13 rebounds along with going 12 of 12 from the free-throw line.

Nick Giordano was also solid with 19 points while Jakwan Jones and Troy Jones both netted 13 points.

“What I told my guys coming out of the locker room after the game, other than it was a really good basketball game was I thought we showed some really good things especially coming back through adversity,” East Stroudsburg coach Jeff Wilson said.

“Our team fought adversity all year. I’m just really proud of the guys, our seniors gave us good leadership. I thought they helped our young guys get their feet under them this year and I think they left a really strong legacy. I’m, really proud of these guys for staring adversity in the face. A lot of people counted them out, and we found a way to win the East and get in the PSAC semifinal and found a way to play a helluva basketball game (Saturday) against a really good opponent.”

Hill also cracked double digits in the scoring column for West Liberty with 14 points.

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