WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 8-ranked West Liberty University men’s basketball team picked up right where it had left off almost a year ago Thursday night, racing away to a 98-77 victory against Notre Dame (Ohio) in a mutual season opener at the ASRC.

Coach Ben Howlett’s Hilltoppers opened up a 25-point lead less than seven minutes into the second half and never looked back in their first game since defeating Charleston in the championship game of the Mountain East Conference Tournament in Wheeling on March 8.

“I’m just happy we were finally able to play,” Howlett said. “Tonight was almost 10 months to the day since these guys had played an actual basketball game so they were raring to go. It was pretty sloppy at first, as I anticipated, but there was about a 4-minute span early in the second half where we were getting after it to the point that it looked more like West Liberty basketball.

“I’m not complaining. With all the challenges we’ve faced along with everybody else in this country over the last few months, I’ll take any win we can get.”

The Falcons kept things interesting for the first 20 minutes, trailing just 46-36 at the half, but when West Liberty’s Bryce Butler opened the second half with a 3-point bomb it seemed to light the fuse.

The Hilltoppers hit 11 of their first 14 shots from the floor in the second half, with several of them being transition layups off turnovers created by their full-court trapping defense. A Dalton Bolon 3-pointer and a Marlon Moore transition layup capped a 13-0 blitz and produced WLU’s biggest lead of the night at 66-41. The final 13:31 was just a formality.

Every West Liberty player hit the scoring column. Bolon charted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Pat Robinson III poured in 18 of his 20 points in the first half. Butler added 18 points and 7 rebounds while McKinney had 10 points off the bench and Moore donated 8 points and 8 rebounds.

“We’ve been waiting for this for 10 months,” Robinson said. “We’ve been killing each other in practice for so long now, it felt great to go up against somebody else.”

Jordan Burton tossed in a game-high 24 points for Notre Dame while Jordan Roland joined him in double figures with 17.

The Hilltoppers will be back in action on Sunday when they travel to Philippi, W.Va. to take on MEC newcomer Alderson Broaddus. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Rex Pyles Arena.

WOMEN

Notre Dame 83, W. Liberty 71

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – A 13-0 surge midway through the fourth quarter broke open a close game here Thursday night and lifted the Notre Dame (Ohio) women’s basketball team to an 83-71 victory over upset-minded West Liberty in a mutual season opener at the ASRC.

Coach Kyle Cooper’s youthful Hilltoppers shot better than 50 percent from the floor and led for long stretches in each of the first three quarters only to see the Falcons, who were coming off a 26-win season and NCAA Tournament bid, catch fire down the stretch.

“I thought we just saw a heck of a game between two very well-prepared programs,” Cooper said. “Our youth probably showed up a little in the second half but I’m very proud of the effort and intensity we showed against one of the best teams in our league.”

West Liberty and Notre Dame had combined for 11 ties and 8 lead changes in the tightly-played contest when Jada Marone, the Falcons’ All-MEC junior guard, took matters into her own hands.

Notre Dame was clinging to a 62-61 lead with less than 6 minutes to play when Marone dropped in her only 3-point shot of the night. She followed that up with back-to-back drives to the hoop, opening up a 69-61 lead with 3:52 to play.

That was the largest lead of the night for either team to that point and when teammates Lizzie Imrie and Shay Davidson closed out the surge with consecutive 3-point bombs to make it 75-61 with 2:47 on the clock, the Hilltoppers had run out of time.

Marone finished with a game-high 35 points while sophomore guard Marina Adachi added 17. They were the only Falcons in double figures but it was enough to pull out the win.

There were plenty of bright spots on the West Liberty side of the ledger.

Senior guard Olivia Belknap had a team-high 20 points and also dished out 5 assists.

while fellow senior guard Audrey Tingle stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Senior wing Jackie Kitts hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 10 points while junior transfer Arriana Manzay grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds in her WLU debut.