North Ridgeville’s Keene Cockburn, who was a red-shirted freshman last season, is enjoying playing for the No. 1-ranked Division II West Liberty University basketball team. The Hilltoppers just completed its first month as the nation’s No. 1-ranked team in unanimous fashion.

West Liberty (19-0) received all eight first-place votes for the fourth consecutive week when the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) released its weekly NCAA Division II national Top 25 coaches’ poll.

Cockburn is playing nearly 10 minutes a game (9.8) and is averaging nearly six points per game (5.9). He has made6 of 16 from the 3-point arc (nearly 40 percent). He is also averaging 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He also has 13 steals in 14 games played.

Rapidly closing in on the first back-to-back West Virginia Conference championships in school history, West Liberty has won its 18 games by an average of nearly 40 points per game and heads into the final month of the regular season scoring at a blistering 120.1 ppg. pace.

West Liberty has posted routs of Davis & Elkins, 129-88; Bluefield State, 100-74, and Concord, 133-82, to remain one of just two unbeaten NCAA Division II teams in the nation. Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.), which moved up to No. 6 this week, also boasts an 18-0 unblemished mark.

swalker@MorningJournal.com