CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Glenville State grabbed momentum with a late first-half run and a cold-shooting West Liberty squad couldn't find an answer as the No. 5 seed Pioneers knocked the Mountain East Conference's regular season champions out of the MEC Tournament with an 83-68 semifinal win hereSaturday night.

It was only the second time in the last nine seasons that Coach Jim Crutchfield's high-scoring Hilltopper squad has been held under 70 points and both games came on the same Charleston Civic Center Coliseum boards. Charleston edged WLU, 63-60, in last year's MEC Tournament championship game.

The stunning turnaround seemed to come out of nowhere for a No. 4-ranked West Liberty (26-3) team that rode a 12-game winning streak into the semifinal tilt.

The Hilltoppers appeared on the verge of taking control when Joe Lococo's driving layup gave them their largest lead of the night, 25-17, with 7 minutes left in the opening half.

That's when the lid slammed down on the West Liberty basket as the Black and Gold went just 1-for-9 from the floor over the final 7 minutes of the half and committed four turnovers during that span.

That enabled Glenville to flip the scoreboard with an 18-3 run and take a 35-28 lead into the locker room at intermission.

The Pioneers scored the first 6 points of the second half to push the margin to 41-28 and the Hilltoppers never got closer than 9 points the rest of the night.

Seger Bonifant, the MEC Player of the Year, was held to a season-low 4 points and didn't get on the board until the 8:35 mark of the second half but Bonifant's misery had plenty of company.

West Liberty shot a chilly 37 percent (26-of-69) from the floor as a team on the night and trailed by as many as 21 points down the stretch before hitting its last four shots to make the final margin a bit more respectable.

Devin Hoehn scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half to pace the Hilltoppers while Lococo finished with 14 points to round out the double-figure scorers.

Reggie Williams paced a balanced attack for Glenville with a game-high 21 points. Brett Morris and Sedric Nady added 18 and 17, respectively, while Donte Morales chipped in with 14.

The Pioneers advance to the MEC Tournament championship game against the winner of Saturdaynight's late semifinal between Wheeling Jesuit and Fairmont State. Tipoff for Sunday's MEC final is set for3:30 p.m.

The NCAA Division II regional bids and host sites will be announced late Sunday night with the top-seeded team in each region hosting the regional event. The Hilltoppers were the No. 1-ranked team in the Atlantic Region coming into the MEC Tournament.

GAME NOTES

X West Liberty has failed to reach the 70-point mark only seven times during Crutchfield's 11 seasons at the helm. Four of those seven came during conference tournament play in Charleston

X The Hilltoppers have won the last four Atlantic Region tournaments and have been a host team in four of the last five seasons

X Glenville has put together a 4-game winning streak after losing 6 of 8 games during the month of February