West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

WLU steps out of the MEC to face a tough King College team tonight. King currently sits at 6-3 and is riding a 4 game winning streak. Good test for the Toppers as they start the final 2/3'rds of their schedule.

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

WLU steps out of the MEC to face a tough King College team tonight. King currently sits at 6-3 and is riding a 4 game winning streak. Good test for the Toppers as they start the final 2/3'rds of their schedule.

The next matchup against D.C. looks pretty dreadful, they're 1-8 and not very competitive

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

The next matchup against D.C. looks pretty dreadful, they're 1-8 and not very competitive

Certainly UDC's record isn't good but they seem to play everyone pretty tight and gave Bowie and Slippery Rock good go's of it. They seem to play a bruising PSAC type game. They just can't shoot...either from the field, 3 point line or foul line!!!

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Well that was too close for comfort, WL shot 12% from 3 in the first half. Not sure what they shot in the second

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Woooo...WLU wins 91-87 over a VERY GOOD King squad to go to 10-0 on the season. We found a way to gut out a W when all our shooters were ICE cold from 3! As a team we shot 19% (6-31) from the arc!! Luckily two of those 3's came from Watson in the final 3 minutes to keep a hard playing King at bay.

As they say, a wins a win but dam!

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Woooo...WLU wins 91-87 over a VERY GOOD King squad to go to 10-0 on the season. We found a way to gut out a W when all our shooters were ICE cold from 3! As a team we shot 19% (6-31) from the arc!! Luckily two of those 3's came from Watson in the final 3 minutes to keep a hard playing King at bay.

As they say, a wins a win but dam!

I was there and I am getting more and more impressed by WLU. The sheer will and effort to win regardless of the situation is very impressive, as WLU forced 19 turnovers while committing only 5.
A few years ago a cold shooting night from 3 usually meant a loss.

King out shot them overall (47% to 45%), from 3 (42% to 19%) and just lost the FT % (59% to 68% for WLU). King also tried to use most of the shot clock.
.
At 17:55 in 2nd half, King started to show signs of cracking, even though they led by 11. They started committing turnovers, and missing or rushing shots they normally made in the 1st half, big men started taking 3s (bricks). At 16:26 King still led by 9.

However WLU kept up the defensive intensity, continuing to send wave after wave of guys playing "mad dog mean" (to quote the outlaw Josey Wales).
King started losing their legs and were holding or trailing WLU cutters on offense.

At half time, WLU had changed their offensive approach from a perimeter game to a spread with sharp passing from the side to a slasher flashing down the lane from the other side for layups. Monterosa started taking EVERYONE (big man, small man, did not matter to him) to the rack for layups or fouls. King just did not have the legs to keep up with them. Meininger received two long bullet passes from the side as he slashed down the lane for layups on TWO successive possessions. Same Play both times. King's tank was empty.
With 11:56 left, King was down by 5. The "blackout" had occurred.

Had WLU been hitting their normal 45% of their 31 3 pt attempts, this would have been a massacre, as WLU had wide open looks (it was NOT the King defense that affected the 3s). Even in warmups for 2nd half (I was hoping a change of goals would help), WLU was very cold as a team from 3.

King had a good game plan. they rotated the ball well, had mobile big men, played good defense (when they had energy) and generally avoided turnover clusters until they hit the wall at around 17 minutes to go in the game. Only 10 of their 19 turnovers were in the second half, but they came in clusters and were accompanied by bad offensive looks. and missed shots due to fatigue.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Good recap Columbus. Seems like WLU has a few "tools in their tool belt" that they probably won't need very often, but when they do, they are very comfortable using them. WLU is not going to be THIS cold from 3 very often but it was good to see that 1. Coach H recognized it quickly, 2. He made the appropriate changes and 3. The team was more than capable of executing.

WLU makes it easy for people to think of them as this one dimensional team...they "just" bury their opponents under mountains of 3's. Makes it easy for some to dismiss them as soft. But every now and then when the 3's aren't falling we get to see just how much grit, determination and unwillingness to lose this team has.

Don't think we are looking at a NC (I think our lack of size will catch up with us eventually), but it is going to take a very good team that plays a flaw free game on a night when the 3's aren't falling for us to beat us.

[IUP Extra Mile]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Agree with you Boat...WL does not beat themselves....They don't turn it over much at all...and they usually have some good combination of 3 point shooting and forcing turnovers, that make it tough to beat...WHen they had to last night, they dug deep, and went hard to the hole...some really nice drives in there...

Boat, you ready to concede that Jordan Watson is an "ok", point guard? Much of our preseason talk centered around who would be fit to lead the team as PG...and they both can...Watson made some big buckets, but also has emerged as their go-to running the point, even though dyer still starts...

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Agree with you Boat...WL does not beat themselves....They don't turn it over much at all...and they usually have some good combination of 3 point shooting and forcing turnovers, that make it tough to beat...WHen they had to last night, they dug deep, and went hard to the hole...some really nice drives in there...

Boat, you ready to concede that Jordan Watson is an "ok", point guard? Much of our preseason talk centered around who would be fit to lead the team as PG...and they both can...Watson made some big buckets, but also has emerged as their go-to running the point, even though dyer still starts...

Hahahaha!! I'll concede that Dyer hasn't played as well as I thought he might! He seems very reluctant to shoot for some reason. Not expecting him to be the leading three point shooter or finish every time he drives but I do expect him to take 8-10 shots per game. He's taken 32 shots on the season in 10 games...only Saben and Moore have taken fewer and they have both played two fewer games!! He's still the leader in assists!!

[CelticCoach]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I see Bethany is playing up tonight at St. Francis, would like to see WLU step up and play some small D1 schools.

[JesuitHoops]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

It has nothing to do with West Lib "stepping up" to play D1 schools, but every bit of D1's not wanting anything to do with playing the Hilltoppers.

[CelticCoach]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

It has nothing to do with West Lib "stepping up" to play D1 schools, but every bit of D1's not wanting anything to do with playing the Hilltoppers.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I don't think a D1 team has played them since Marshall eked out a win in the early days of Crutchfield in the early 2000s. Their historical performance in tournaments would seem to indicate that their current scheduling strategy has served them quite well. What is encouraging to me is their play when they are not hitting their 3s. That could help them when you are playing games on consecutive days in a tournament setting.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Scouting Report: West Lib 2018 signee Jon Alessandro:
I went to their game with Springboro tonight at Beavercreek, outside of Dayton.
They are in a very tough league with Wayne, Centerville (Meininger and Saben's school) and others. The quality of basketball and coaching in the league is high.

Before tonight, Beavercreek was winless, mainly due to lack of height and shooting skills among some of their players. Beavercreek won 63-54. Jon had 34 points. 13-16 FT, 3-5 3s, 9-16 shots, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.


Jon is a very polished, intelligent basketball player. Plays with his head up with great vision and passing skills. He played outside at the Guard position at 6 ft 5.5 inches.
Handles the ball well against pressure and in traffic. Great slasher and 3 point shooter. Very unselfish. He lets the game come to him and often passed up a make-able shot to give a less talented teammate an open shot. Tenacious on the boards. Very high motor but plays under control.

On defense he plays intelligently. If he forces a player into a difficult off-balance shot, he lets them attempt it rather than create an obvious foul.
On one occasion, a player on a fast break came dribbling at full speed from the side right at Jon who was defending about 3 ft from the end line at the basket. The player was trying to bait Jon into a foul. Jon stayed completely still as the player out of control went flying by him in the air only to realize that he was so far out of position that he had no way to make a layup. He just wildly thru the ball up in the air behind his head. It was one hilarious attempt.

The game was close throughout until the 4th quarter. Down by 6, Springboro started doing all the quick foul stuff by the book. One problem. They did not deny Jon the ball, who is a deadly foul shooter. He must have made 10 straight foul shots in the final 2 minutes.

Bottom Line: Jon is a perfect fit for West Lib. High IQ, high motor, great shooter, ball handler, slasher, passer, rebounder and very unselfish. IMHO, he has a very high upside. Kind of a griffin/smith type player.
He could possibly receive a lot of accolades by the time he is a senior.

Quick Update: West Lib signee Sincere Carry.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Interesting article on Coach Howlett and WLU basketball:

http://dystpittsburgh.com/2017/12/22...tball-program/

Second part is suppose to be posted today.