West Liberty Stays Perfect In MEC Tournament Qtrs.
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WHEELING - The Mountain East Conference men's basketball tournament is celebrating its 12th season. West Liberty has played in the semifinals every year.
Friday night inside WesBanco Arena, the top-seeded Hilltoppers (26-3) punched their ticket to Saturday's semifinals with a methodical, 102-77, rout of No. 8 Davis & Elkins. They will face the winner of Friday night's late game between No. 4 Concord and No. 5 W.Va. State at 6 o'clock.
"We want to win every game we play, so tomorrow (Saturday) it's another game, but it'a a game to get into the championship which is what we want to do," West Liberty head coach Ben Howlett said. "We're on a three-game mission here."
After spotting the Senators (12-18) a 2-0 lead, West Liberty reeled off 20 of the next 26 points to take control and never look back.
The Hilltoppers used their pressure defense to force Davis & Elkins into 13 first-half turnovers that led to 18 points.
West Liberty raced out to a 41-19 lead late in the first half after a three-pointer from Garrison Kisner with 3:40 left on the clock. It carried a 46-28 advantage into the locker room at halftime as nine of the 10 players dressed found the scoring column..
"We did some stuff offensively uncharacteristic for us, but I thought in the second half we started passing the ball better and ended up with 21 assists. We had seven at halftime," Howlett said. "Twenty-one assists by the end of the game that's kind of who we are and thought overall the effort was really good in the second half."
The Senators opened the second half with a quick 5-0 spurt to trim the deficit to 46-33, but the Hilltoppers quickly responded. A 21-10 run stretched the lead back to 22 points at 67-45, and Davis & Elkins never threatened.
Sophomore guard Daniel Autrey led the West Liberty charge with a season-high 25 points, draining seven three-pointers, also a season-high, to pace the offensive explosion. JJ Harper contributed 14 points and eight rebounds, while Kyler D'Augustino added 14 points and six boards. Lanyc Shuler rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points and five assists.
GAME NOTES
- West Liberty has appeared in eight MEC Tournament finals, winning half of them. They are now 24-7 all-time in the MEC Tournament, while Howlett is 16-4 as the head coach.
- The 102 points represented the 16th time the Hilltoppers have surpassed the century mark this season. They are 15-1, with the lone loss being a 102-100 decision to Frostburg State.
- With the victory, West Liberty defeated Davis & Elkins three times this season. It had won 107-93 and 78-66 in the regular season.
- In pre-game ceremonies, D'Augustino and Harper received the all-MEC first team plaques from Commissioner Reid Amos; Howell was presented with his third Coach of the Year award and the Hilltoppers received their regular-season championship trophy.