By Kendrick Jackson, Advertising Manager
The No. 5 West Liberty University men’s basketball team will take on West Virginia State tonight at 7:30 p.m., followed by University of Charleston on Saturday. With two wins this weekend, WLU will extend its current winning streak to four games.
Our Hilltoppers come into tonight 20-1, fresh off a tough matchup against Concord University. Down by one point at the half, WLU managed to pull away in the second half to defeat Concord 105-92. Hilltopper senior Dan Monteroso scored 12 of his 15 points during the second half.
Monteroso leads West Liberty in scoring, averaging 19 points-per-game while shooting at least 50 percent from the field. This is the second consecutive season Monteroso has achieved this feat.
Tonight, Monteroso and company will take on West Virginia State at home. During their first matchup, WLU dominated the Yellow Jackets by almost 40 points. This game saw three Hilltoppers with 20 points, including Dalton Bolon, Jordan Watson, and Monteroso.
The Yellow Jackets of West Virginia State are currently 12-9, sitting in the middle of the Mountain East Conference. Currently on a two-game losing streak, West Virginia State will look for an upset against WLU. The Yellow Jackets scored an upset with a 106-100 win against Fairmont State earlier this season.
This is surely to be a high scoring game as West Liberty and West Virginia State rank first and third in points per game, respectively. However, the Yellow Jackets rank second to last in points allowed while WLU is defeating opponents by a 26-point margin.
Saturday, the Hilltoppers will travel to southern West Virginia to faceoff against Charleston University. West Liberty flew by the Golden Eagles during their first meet this season. WLU went into halftime with a 25-point lead, and that was all she wrote, winning the contest 106-80.
The Golden Eagles sit right below West Virginia State in the conference with a 13-9 record. Charleston will have a tough weekend as they face 17-5 Wheeling Jesuit tonight, followed by the nationally ranked Hilltoppers on Saturday.
Kier Anderson leads all scorers for Charleston University with 16.4 points per game. Anderson is also averaging 29.5 minutes per game while shooting almost 54 percent from the field, which is first and second on the team, respectively.
The game starts tonight at 7:30 p.m., and coverage at Charleston begins at 4 p.m.
Photo Credit: Hilltoppersports.com
