WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 3-ranked West Liberty University men scored 10 of the game's last 13 pointsThursday night to finish off a wild 115-105 revenge win against Concord in an instant Mountain East Conference classic before an overflow crowd at the ASRC.
"That was one of the best and most entertaining basketball games I've ever seen," Hilltopper head coach Jim Crutchfield said after watching the Black and Gold (21-2, 15-2) avenge last month's 108-93 loss to the Mountain Lions (16-7, 11-6). "The caliber of play on both sides was outstanding. "It looked like two of the best teams in the country going at it and that's exactly what it was."
West Liberty hit 13 3-pointers in the first half to open up a 59-47 lead at the break but Concord rose to the challenge.
With the Hilltoppers still converting at a blistering pace, the Mountain Lions – who had poured in 66 second-half points in their January win against WLU – hit 16 of their first 22 shots from the floor in the second half to erase the double-digit deficit.
A 3-point bomb from Michael Sanchez gave the visitors their first lead since the game's opening basket at 91-90 with 7:45 still remaining.
West Liberty wasn't about to let this one slip away, however, as Zak Kirkbride spun inside for a twisting layup that put the hosts ahead to stay, 92-91, with 7:17 on the clock. Trailing 105-102 with just over 2 minutes remaining, the Mountain Lions forced a turnover and came back downcourt with a chance to tie but Seger Bonifant stole the ball with 1:50 remaining and the Hilltopper offense opted to run more time off the clock. With the shot clock down into single digits, Bonifant whipped the ball out to an open Mike Lamberti at the top of the circle but Lamberti threaded the needle with a bounce pass to Zac Grossenbacher on the blocks. The 6-8 Grossenbacher muscled in a layup with 1 second left on the shot while being hammered by Concord's Jametrius Wade. The free throw gave WLU a 108-102 lead with 1:24 to go.
"That's a coach's dream when you can run the clock down like that and get a layup at the end," Crutchfield said. "We turned down some pretty good looks on that possession and I remember thinking when Mike made that last pass that I hoped he saw something really good. Fortunately, he did."
The Mountain Lions got another chance when Rob Reed swished a quick 3-pointer, making it 108-105 with 1:12remaining, and the Hilltoppers misfired on a 3-point attempt at the other end.
Concord was working the ball around the perimeter in search of a potential game-tying bonus bomb when Lamberti stepped in front of a skip pass from Wade and sailed coast-to-coast for a layup that put the hosts on top, 110-105, with just over 30 seconds left.
Dennis rebounded a hurried Mountain Lion miss to begin the Hilltoppers' game-clinching parade to the foul line.
Making the win even more impressive was the fact that the Black and Gold was playing without second-leading scorer Devin Hoehn. The junior guard, who had 30 points in the first game against Concord, was injured at Shepherd on Saturday and looked on in street clothes. "It will be great to get Devin back but we had a lot of guys step up tonight," Crutchfield said. "Seger was huge and Grossenbacher had another really strong game but we also had guys like Lamberti and Kirkbride knocking down several big 3-point shots even though they haven't shot a lot of them this year. This was a great team win against a really, really good basketball team."
Bonifant, the reigning MEC Player of the Week, was almost unstoppable. He poured in a game-high 37 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the floor – including a 7-of-8 showing from the 3-point arc – while tying his own career high with 8 assists. Grossenbacher muscled in 23 points and grabbed a dozen rebounds while Dennis finished with 19 points, 8 assists and 4 steals.
Lamberti added 16 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists while Kirkbride and Brady Arnold combined for 16 points and went 4-for-6 from the 3-point arc. Sanchez and Reed paced six double-figure scorers for Concord with 22 points each.
The Hilltoppers don't have much time to catch their breath. UVA-Wise comes to the ASRC on Saturday for a 4 p.m.game.
