No. 3 West Liberty used a big surge in the second half to run away with an 87-64 victory over Charleston on Thursday night.
After a balanced battle in the first half, the Hilltoppers were able to pull away and seize the momentum quickly to swing the game into their favor and never looked back. Using an early 11-0 run, a stretch where it held UC without a field goal for more than five minutes and a run in which it made 10 3-pointers, West Liberty was able to do what it has done so well all season in order to pick up the win.
"It was a little frustrating because we did such a good job in the first half. We were quick and did what we go into every game trying to do, and I don't know if it was fatigue or what but we just weren't as crisp," UC coach Dwaine Osborne said. "We tried to play at their pace, play their game, too much. That's a compliment to them, they sped us up."
When West Liberty (18-1 overall, 12-1 Mountain East Conference) got rolling in the second half, it was because its go-to player was able to find his footing. After a first half in which he didn't score a point, Dan Monteroso wasted no time making his presence felt coming back from the break.
He responded by scoring all 21 of his points over the final 20 minutes, making all nine shots he took. That included a run of seven points early in the second half that helped the Hilltoppers separate themselves from the Golden Eagles after going back and forth up until that point.
"He's a very difficult matchup because he can handle it, pass it, shoot. He's just a well-rounded player," Osborne said. "He's a really good player and the kind of guy every coach in the country would love to have on their team for sure. He was really efficient for them."
Charleston (10-9, 4-9) was able to do what it had hoped to do, for the most part, in the first half. The Golden Eagles had gone into the game - like they do every game - with the goals of starting strong, holding their opponent below 40 percent shooting from the field and winning the rebounding battle. And for those first 20 minutes, UC was able to do just that.
The Golden Eagles were just the sixth team to hold West Liberty to less than 40 points in a half this season while making 60 percent of the shots they took in the opening half. But they struggled when they tried to play at the Hilltoppers' up-tempo pace too much - turning the ball over 13 times in the first half and 20 for the game, allowing West Liberty to turn that into 22 points off turnovers.
"We played really hard in the first half and we did a lot of the things that we talk about wanting to do, but we turned it over 13 times," Osborne said. "A lot of those were just careless and they led to easy points, and I think that was kind of the theme of the game."
Three other West Liberty players joined Monteroso in double figures. Zac Grossenbacher scored 16 points while James Griffin and Tyler Primmer added 13 and 10, respectively. The Hilltoppers ended the game with 18 3-pointers.
Elliott Cole and Justin Coleman led the way for UC. Cole scored a game-high 23 points, hitting five 3-pointers, while Coleman picked up another double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Jonathan Tshibuy also scored 11 points for the Golden Eagles.
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.