West Liberty — The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) released the first regular season poll for Division II men’s basketball on Tuesday afternoon, which saw West Liberty University move up one spot to No. 2 nationally
With a record of 4-0 to start the season and an average margin of victory of 38.3, the Hilltoppers are being featured in the national rankings for the 38th consecutive release.
WLU is joined in the rankings by one other fellow Mountain East Conference member, Fairmont State University, which enters the rankings at No. 8 following a 4-0 start to their season.
The Hilltoppers and Falcons are the lone remaining undefeated teams within the conference.
West Liberty Played their MEC opener Tuesday, besting Notre Dame 109-84 at home.
the Hilltoppers got seven players into double figures in their final game before the Thanksgiving break. Ben Sarson scored 16, Zach Rasile followed with 14, Finley Woodward scored 12, Darren Fergus and Kyler D’augustino each had 11, while Lanyc Shuler and Christian Montague each had 10.
Woodward, Fergus and Shuler did their work off the bench.
Notre Dame finished with 31 turnovers in the game while West Liberty limited themselves to 13 giveaways.
The Hilltoppers shot 48.8% from the field, and canned 15 3-pointers at a 41.7% rate. Notre Dame shot 47.7% from the field, but managed a 2-16 day from behind the arc.
Jevontae Jones had 20 and RJ Ogom had 19 for the Falcons.
West Liberty next faces West Virginia Wesleyan (1-5) at home on Nov. 29.
