WHEELING, W.Va. – Senior All-American Seger Bonifant poured in a game-high 34 points Sunday night as No. 5-ranked West Liberty advanced to the NCAA Division II "Sweet 16" for the seventh straight year with an 84-74 victory against Virginia State in an Atlantic Region semifinal at the McDonough Center.

Coach Jim Crutchfield's No. 2-seeded Hilltoppers (29-3) will be gunning for its fifth regional title in the past six seasons on Tuesday when they return to the court at 7 p.m. against No. 4 seed Kutztown (23-6). The Bears eliminated No. 8 seed Mercyhurst, 79-73, in Sunday's late semifinal.

"No, it never gets old," West Liberty head coach Jim Crutchfield said when asked about advancing to his seventh consecutive regional championship game. "I couldn't be more excited right now if i had never been to a regional final. Believe me, we are thrilled to have the chance to play for a regional championship."

The Hilltoppers were tested on Sunday by an inspired Trojan squad as the CIAA champions maintained a slim lead for most of the first half and kept the issue in doubt until the final minute.

Virginia State shot nearly 60 percent from the floor during the game's first 15 minutes and opened up its largest lead of the game, 32-22, on back-to-back Melvin Gregory jumpers with a little more than 4 ½ minutes showing on the first half clock.

The double-digit advantage didn't last long as Bonifant finished off a fast-break feed from David Dennis while being fouled and cashed in the charity toss to make it 32-25 at the 4:31 mark.

The Hilltopper defense tightened, holding the Trojans to just one field goal for the rest of the half, while Dennis and fellow backcourter Brady Arnold began finding opportunities at the rim.

Another conventional 3-point play, this time by Arnold, trimmed the deficit to 36-34 with 1:04 left before halftime and a Zac Grossenbacher 3-pointer – WLU's first trey in nearly 15 minutes – sent the Black and Gold into the locker room with a 37-36 halftime lead.

"Even though we were down early, I wasn't that concerned," Crutchfield said. "Virginia State was making some really tough shots and we were missing shots that we normally make. We have good shooters so I felt pretty confident our shots would start to fall as long as we kept working to get good looks."

West Liberty never trailed in the second half but had a hard time getting separation against the tall and talented Virginia State squad until a key sequence of events coming down the stretch.

After a pair of Bonifant free throws put WLU up, 68-60, with 5:39 to go, the Trojans missed a 3-point shot – VSU was just 3-of-17 from the 3-point arc in the second half – and Grossenbacher was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 5:03remaining.

A Virginia State player protested the foul call and was whistled for a technical. Grossenbacher swished all three charity tosses and Bonifant added another on the technical and the Hilltoppers had a 72-60 lead.

Elijah Moore tried to stop the bleeding for the Trojans with a pair of free throws but Bonifant answered with a dagger of a 3-pointer and Dennis dropped in two more charity tosses for a 77-62 bulge with less than four minutes to play to put the game on ice.

"I thought David Dennis had a couple of great penetration moves and finished at the rim in traffic in crucial moments," Crutchfield said. "Having veteran guys like Seger and Devin who know when to try to go score and when to run some clock with a late lead really helps, as well.

"The bottom line is those guys made big plays down the stretch when we needed guys to step up and make plays. That's what you have to do in order to win basketball games – especially against this level of competition."

Dennis just missed a double-double, backing Bonifant's 34 points with 17 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds. Hoehn also came up just shy of a double-double with 10 points and a career-high 9 rebounds while Grossenbacher finished with 11 points while swatting away 6 shots at the defensive end.

Moore had 26 points and 10 rebounds to pace Virginia State. Cyonte Melvin and Kevin Williams added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The winner of Tuesday's championship game advances to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight national championship tournament, which tips off March 23 at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas, just outside of Dallas.

Shrugging off congratulations for passing the 2,200-point milestone, Bonifant said individual statistics were minor considerations at best for the Hilltoppers at this point.

"None of us care if we score zero points as long as we win the game," Bonifant said. "I know I've never been to Texas but that's one long road trip we'd all like to take together."

TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK

X The Hilltoppers are 18-2 all-time in Atlantic Region tournament play and a perfect 7-0 in regional semifinals

X West Liberty has a 22-7 (.759) record in eight NCAA Tournament trips. That's now the highest winning percentage of any current NCAA Division II program

X Now with 2,205 career points, Bonifant is only 16 points away from Shane Maynard's school record of 2,221 points