West Liberty Hilltoppers celebrates a championship within the Atlantic D-II area on Tuesday, March 18th.
West Liberty – The Males’s Basketball staff of the College of West Liberty is about to take over Cal State Dominguez Hills within the Elite eighth division at three:30 pm, on the Ford Middle in Evansville, ind.
Making the eighth look of the nationwide quarter, the second Hilloppers seed (30-Four) received 15 of the final 16 video games.
Their opponent, Cal State Dominguez Hills (28-5), makes his first journey to Elite eight, after upset Level Loma, 61-58, within the Western Regional closing.
Predominant coach Ben Howlett is aware of that Toros has a singular problem.
“They’re extra of a half -court staff, however everybody of their staff can pull the ball from the perimeter,” he stated.
Toros enters the match that rises to a successful collection of seven video games.
On common, 77 factors per match, whereas holding opponents at solely 69.1. As a staff, they draw 44.6% of the sphere, 32.9% of the three -point vary and 75.three% of the free throw line.
4 common double-digit gamers for CSUDH: Jeremy Dent-Smith (18.Four ppg); Adam Afifi (13.7 ppg); David Cheaton (10.9 ppg) and Alex Garcia (10.5 ppg).
A key story within the match would be the defensive talent of the CSUDH to the WLU’s nice energy offense.
Toros has not but allowed an opponent to achieve 100 factors this season, whereas Hilltoppers leads the nation (101 ppg) and eclipsed the grade of the century in eight of the final 10 video games, together with the atlantic regional closing.
Wlu additionally set a brand new scoring document with a single sport this season, with 162 factors to Salem on February 26.
The Hilloppers are led to the rating by Kyler d’Augusto (17.1 ppg) and JJ Harper (15.7 ppg). Harper can also be the most effective recoil at 5.2. Leaders in help are Finley Woodward (Four.eight APG) and LANYC Shuler (Four.zero APG).
Whereas West Liberty has quite a lot of event expertise as a program, this 12 months’s listing is comparatively new to the massive scene.
“Now we have two guys who final performed (2023) and that is high-quality and high-quality,” Howlett stated. “Everybody else is new however there’s a degree of emotion with these guys. I can really feel it.”
Howlett credit the depth of his staff as a significant motive for his or her success. “All ten guys contributed this 12 months, however two guys who actually climb are Llayc (Shuler) and Fin (Woodward),” he stated. “For the high-quality, the sport has slowed down for him, and LANYC – I believe it’s lastly snug in our system.”
Nationwide rankings and event historical past
West Liberty runs the nation within the turnover margin (+eight.7) and is in second place within the rating (101 ppg), the assist-tornover report (2.zero) and assists on the sport (22.6). Hilloppers are additionally High 10 in:
-Ra-Pointers made on the sport: three (12.1)
-Tre-three makes an attempt on the sport: Four (32.5)
-Turnolars discussion board on the sport: Four (19.7)
-Punc factors: 6 (37.three)
-The fastbreak factors: 6 (20.eight)
-Sleals: 10 (10.7)
West Liberty is happy with a 38-15 document within the NCAA event, together with 19-1 at ASRC. This marks the 16th 16th consecutive look of the NCAA event (17th normally). They received the championship of the Atlantic area eight occasions (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2021, 2023, 2025) and hosted the regional event seven occasions.
Howlett hugs the second this time.
“The final time I used to be there. I by no means stopped to get pleasure from. I used to be all the time centered on the following sport,” he admitted. “I actually tried to get pleasure from a bit of factor after I obtained to Evansville. I in all probability gave up doing this and focus solely on the following sport, however I am more than happy to get there and compete.”
West Liberty appears to proceed working within the Dominant Postseason, whereas combating for a spot within the nationwide semifinal.