Ohio Valley Times

For the first time in nearly a decade, the West Liberty University men's basketball team will be playing for an NCAA Division II national championship this afternoon.

    Coach Ben Howlett's No. 5-ranked Hilltoppers (33-3) tips off against unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Nova Southeastern, Fla. (35-0) today at 3 p.m. (EDT) in the finals of the 2023 NCAA Division II Elite Eight at the Ford Center. The game will be televised live nationally on CBS as part of that network's March Madness coverage.

    There's a West Liberty flavor on both sides of today's title tilt as record-setting Nova Southeastern head coach Jim Crutchfield first came to national prominence while coaching the Hilltoppers from 2004-17. A two-time national coach of the year at WLU, he was at the helm for West Liberty's first national championship game – an 84-77 loss to Central Missouri in 2014 – and current Hilltopper head coach Ben Howlett was an assistant on that staff.

    Howlett took the West Liberty reins and embarked on his own record-setting career when Crutchfield left the hilltop for the head coaching position at Nova Southeastern. Howlett – a 1,600-plus point scorer as a player at WLU from 2006-09 – has led the Hilltoppers to six straight MEC titles and brought his team to Evansville this week in search of the school's first men's basketball national championship.

    Howlett (161-24, .870) is listed by the NCAA as having the highest winning percentage of any coach with 5 or more years experience while Crutchfield (494-82, .858) tops the list for coaches who have been on the sidelines for 10 or more seasons. Given that level of coaching success, this encounter on NCAA Division II's biggest stage was probably inevitable and the numbers surrounding the matchup making it even more intriguing.

    Nova Southeastern and West Liberty are the two highest-scoring teams in the nation. The Sharks have scored 100 or more points in 19 of their 35 games; the Hilltoppers cracked the century mark 18 times in 36 outings. Each team starts five double-figure scorers and features a consensus first-team NCAA All-American.

    It might be more appropriate to dispense with the traditional opening tip-off on Saturday and simply fire a starter's pistol.

    "I think it's going to be a really exciting basketball game," Howlett said following Friday afternoon's final pre-game practice session at the Ford Center. "I know I'm not going to slow it down and while I can't speak for Coach Crutchfield, I don't think he's going to change anything either at this point. Let's throw it up and first team to 100 wins; maybe first team to 120! Whatever the case, both teams are going to be ready. Let's go play!"

    Both teams were tested in Thursday's national semifinals. The Hilltoppers opened up an 18-point lead on Black Hills State, S.D. but due to a combination of foul trouble and injuries, had to hang on down the stretch for an 87-82 victory. Nova Southeastern was clinging to an 89-87 lead over Cal State-San Bernardino with 18 seconds left before going 5-for-6 from the charity stripe to close out a 94-87 win.

     Bryce Butler, a 6-5 junior All-American, leads West Liberty in scoring (22.1 ppg., 7.5 rpg.) and was full-go in practice on Friday after missing time down the stretch against Black Hills State with a bloody nose. He's joined in the starting lineup by 6-3 senior Malik McKinney (12.0 ppg.), 6-1 senior Christian Montague (11.9 ppg.), 6-1 grad student Steve Cannady (10.9 ppg.) and 6-6 sophomore Ben Sarson (10.5 ppg.).

    Howlett is known for going deep into his bench throughout the season. The Hilltoppers made history last month when an NCAA-record 12 players made at least one 3-point shot in a 127-79 blowout win against Concord.

    "The beauty of our team is that everybody on the roster has the ability to go make a play and everybody on the roster has the green light to go make a play," Howlett said. "I'm not afraid to play 12 deep because they've all contributed at some point during the season."

    First-team All-American RJ Sunahara (18.6 ppg., 5.2 rpg.) heads up an impressive starting lineup for the Sharks. He's joined by former Hilltopper Will Yoakum (19.9 ppg.), now a 2,000-point scorer and second-team All-American. Rounding out the starters are 5-9 redshirt freshman Dallas Graziani (10.9 ppg.), an excellent point guard, along with 6-9 sophomore Jonathan Pierre (14.7 ppg.) and 6-3 sophomore Kobe Rodgers (13.2 ppg.).

    This marks the third time a Mountain East Conference team has advanced to the national championship game. In addition to the 2014 Hilltoppers' loss to Central Missouri in Evansville, Fairmont State came up short against Northwest Missouri State, 71-61, in the 2017 title tilt at Sioux Falls, S.D.

Original source can be found here