West Liberty got a unique opportunity when it earned a bid to compete in the Atlantic Region of the NCAA Division II men’s basketball tournament.
For Latrobe native Bryce Butler, Central Catholic graduate Ben Sarson and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart graduate Dante Spadafora, leading West Liberty to victories against Pitt-Johnstown, Mercyhurst and Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the Atlantic Region represented more than just getting their Hilltoppers back to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2021.
“A lot of the kids we used to play with, and play against, play for those schools,” said Butler of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference foes they defeated in the regional. “Kind of just who we are, a West Virginia small school, a lot of people don’t know anything about West Liberty if you don’t know basketball.
“We get to tell our own story.”
The Hilltoppers will now do so on the national stage.
After punctuating its postseason run to date with a dominating performance against top-seeded IUP to win the Atlantic Region title last week, No. 2 seed West Liberty (31-3) is now set to face No. 7 seed New Haven (23-10) in an Elite Eight game at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.
West Liberty, a small public university located just about 50 miles from Downtown Pittsburgh, will be making its seventh Elite Eight appearance in school history.
“I think it’s obviously flattering that we are back here,” said West Liberty coach Ben Howlett, whose team is currently riding a 16-game winning streak. “We talked about this yesterday, we have to get over those wins this past week. The only thing on our minds right now is New Haven.”
The Hilltoppers are vying to make their fifth Final Four appearance — the first since 2016 — and their second national championship game appearance in school history.
Howlett said his players aren’t yet focusing on getting back to the Final Four or the national title game. Defeating a New Haven team that went from the No. 4 seed to winning its first East Region title in school history presents enough of a challenge in and of itself.
“After that we’ll see what happens,” Howlett said.
The Elite Eight matchup between West Liberty and New Haven will feature one of the nation’s top offenses squaring off against a top 10 defense in the country.
The Hilltoppers average 100.1 points per game, which is second best in the nation, while the Chargers are allowing a stingy 61.8 points good for 10th nationally.
“They are about seven deep,” said Howlett of the amount of players New Haven plays. “For us it’s another contrasting style. They’re an extreme half court offensive team. We’ve got to get the pace going in our favor.”
New Haven’s success starts with its center Majur Majak.
The 7-foot-1, 235-pound senior averages seven points per game, but Majak truly excels in rebounding and on the defensive end of the court. His 390 rebounds — 317 defensive and 73 offensive — are tops in Division II nationally, while his 101 blocks are second most in the nation.
“He’s the reason why our numbers statistically are so good, and it’s the reason why teams struggled to score particularly in the paint and particularly around the rim,” said New Haven coach Ted Hotaling of Majak.
Senior Ty Perry averages a team-high 15.6 points per game, and junior Davontrey Thomas scores 12.8 points per outing for the Chargers’ dominating front court. Guard Quashawn Lane facilitates well for New Haven offensively. He averages 15 points per game and has added 137 assists on the season.
The Chargers’ strong core of upperclassmen will look to limit its turnovers and control the pace of the game with its stifling half-court defensive sets, Hotaling said.
“We’ve been one of the best defensive teams in the country,” he said. “I think we just clicked in at the right time offensively.”
Sarson, a 2020 Central Catholic graduate and Sewickley native, will defend, and be defended, by Majak when West Liberty’s starting five are on the court.
“I think it’s a great matchup for us because they tend to play at a really slow pace, and I think that our game favors that because we can get up and down the floor,” Sarson said of facing New Haven.
And facing West Liberty’s first 7-foot opponent of the season shouldn’t become too much of a problem, Sarson said.
“Me and the big guys usually come together and find a way to get it done,” he said.
Howlett couldn’t agree with that assessment more. He said Sarson is the perfect man for the job of defending Majak.
“He’s tough,” Howlett said of the Hilltoppers’ sophomore 6-foot-6 center who averages 10.8 points and a team-high 4.3 rebounds per game. “He doesn’t back down from anybody, and sometimes he’s even a little too aggressive. He’ll want [to face Majak] for sure.”
For the Hilltoppers, success begins with Butler.
The 6-foot-5 junior guard averages 22.6 points per game, which is 11th best in the nation.
Despite his well-known scoring prowess, Howlett said Butler also creates plenty of opportunities for his teammates in West Liberty’s fast-paced offensive sets.
“He’s going to get other guys involved,” Howlett said. “He’ll pick and choose, and Bryce usually makes the right decision when he’s decided to take it to the rim.
“He dictated the IUP game,” the coach added. “He dictated the Mercyhurst game. He was so good in our biggest games of the year on the national stage. I don’t know how much better he can play, and then the next game occurs and he does that much better. We’re really lucky to have him here as part of our basketball team.”
Howlett said the same can be said of Spadafora, who plays an integral role in the Hilltoppers’ offensive game plan.
West Liberty often subs in a second five-player lineup when it needs a spark.
Spadafora, a redshirt freshman, provides plenty of energy when the second grouping hits the floor.
“Dante is a fireball,” Howlett said. “His energy is contagious. There’s been times in some games where our guards maybe needed a kick in the butt a little bit, and I think when Dante went out on the floor and hustled, and made those West Liberty plays, he kind of picked up the other guards a little bit.”
Spadafora, a 2021 OLSH graduate and Sheraden native, is averaging 2.5 points in 9.5 minutes per game off the bench.
“When you play for an elite program like this you kind of put your ego down and do what the team needs you to do,” Spadafora said. “When I play with energy the team kind of feeds off it. When you play with energy the team kind of plays better.”
And Butler is hoping West Liberty’s run in Evansville will end better than its last time around.
Butler was a sophomore starter when the Hilltoppers bowed out in the Elite Eight with a 98-77 loss to eventual national champion Northwest Missouri State in 2021.
“This is definitely — maybe not talent-wise, but chemistry and team-wise — this is the best team that I’ve been on since I’ve been here and the best team I’ve ever been on if I’m being honest,” Butler said. “I think we still have maybe even another notch to turn up to show as well as we can play. I think that’s something we are capable of showcasing over the next week.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.