WHEELING, W.Va. – Senior All-American Seger Bonifant became the leading scorer in West Liberty history and freshman guard David Dennis just missed a triple-double as the No. 5-ranked Hilltoppers rolled to their fifth Atlantic Region title in the last six years with an 85-64 blowout win against Kutztown (Pa.) in Tuesday night's regional final at the McDonough Center.

West Liberty (30-3) punched its ticket to the 2016 NCAA Division II Elite Eight national championship tournament, set for March 23-26 in Frisco, Texas. The Hilltoppers' quarterfinal opponent and tipoff time will  be announced on Wednesday.

"We're not satisfied just to get there," said Bonifant, who will be playing in his third Elite Eight. "I think we're good enough and I think we play defense well enough that we can win it down there."

Coach Jim Crutchfield's perennial Atlantic Region power has already clinched its 9th national scoring championship in the past 11 seasons but it was the Black and Gold's defense that keyed Tuesday's regional championship win.

The unranked Golden Bears (23-7) had advanced to Tuesday's final with wins against No. 23 West Chester and PSAC Tournament champion Mercyhurst but the Keystone Staters never got anything going against an inspired WLU squad.

"I just got the feeling before the game that our team was coming in pretty focused and ready to play," Crutchfield said. "We forced the tempo pretty well and made them take some tough shots. Even though our outside shots weren't falling, I thought we did a good job attacking and finishing at the rim."

Dennis, a mercurial 6-1 southpaw from Canal Winchester, Ohio, got West Liberty off to a flying start with a twisting, bending layup off the opening possession and a pretty fast-break feed to senior Mike Lamberti for a conventional 3-point play and a 5-0 Hilltopper lead before the first minute had ticked off the scoreboard clock.

With Dennis getting to the rim and finishing or driving and dishing to teammates for open or mid-range jumpers, West Liberty never looked back.

Devin Hoehn's runout layup – off a half-court lead pass from Dennis – allowed the Black and Gold to "double" the Golden Bears, 24-12, with 9:05 still to play in the first half and the margin never dropped below double-digits the rest of the night.

"David Dennis is a special player because he makes plays," Crutchfield said. "He can get you a rebound at one end of the floor, come down to the other end and get a defensive tip or a steal and then go back to the other end to make a shot or get a teammate an open look. He had three really good games in this tournament."

Despite going just 2-for-12 from behind the 3-point arc in the first 20 minutes, West Liberty coasted into the halftime break with a 39-27 lead – thanks to 14-of-20 (70 percent) shooting from inside the 3-point arc as Dennis and his teammates put the ball on the floor and went to the rack repeatedly.

Josh Johnson opened the second half with a spinning layup to pull Kutztown within 10 points, 39-29, but Zac Grossenbacher answered with a 3-point rainbow and Hoehn got to the rim for another layup and the Hilltoppers were on their way.

The lead hit 20 points, 53-33, when Bonifant drove and dished to a wide-open Brady Arnold in the corner for a 3-pointer as the clock ticked past 16 minutes.

The Golden Bears called timeout trying to break the momentum but when Dennis found Bonifant for another trey and Bonifant fed Hoehn for a transition 3-pointer, West Liberty had opened up a 59-33 lead and the train had left the station.

The only drama remaining was when Bonifant would pass Shane Maynard's Hilltopper school record of 2,221 career points.

The moment came midway through the second half when the two-time Atlantic Region Player of the Year hit nothing but net on a 3-pointer from just in front of the WLU bench to reach 2,223 career points.

"I'm really happy for Seger to get the record," Crutchfield said, "but I have to tell you I've never seen a guy who's less concerned about individual stuff. I read in the newspaper that he's the leading 3-point shooter, percentage-wise, in NCAA basketball history and I honestly had no idea. All Seger talks about is winning games and getting to Texas (for the Elite Eight). He's definitely a rare talent and he's also a rare individual."

With the 3-point shots starting to fall with regularity, the margin continued to swell. West Liberty had just taken its biggest lead of the night, 80-47, on Grossenbacher's third dunk of the game with 6:30 to play when Crutchfield called off the dogs. Kutztown scored 17 of the game's last 22 points to make the final margin a bit more respectable.

Bonifant and Hoehn each had 18 points to lead the balanced WLU attack. Grossenbacher had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Dennis just missed a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.

Johnson had a game-high 19 points and Anthony Lee added 15 for a Golden Bear team that was held to 35 percent (25-of-71) shooting from the floor and just 15 percent (3-of-20) from behind the 3-point arc.

"We lost a couple of games in January but that was a pretty good motivation," Crutchfield said. "We've only lost one game since – on a buzzer-beater in double-overtime – and we've won the rest so we're pretty excited about going back to the Elite Eight. We've been there before. We're eager to see if we can go down there and win some games, too."

TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK

X Bonifant was a unanimous pick for Most Outstanding Player. Dennis joined Bonifant on the Atlantic Region All-Tournament Team. Also named to the team were Johnson, Elijah Moore of Virginia State and Mercyhurst's David Jones

X West Liberty shot 52 percent (33-of-63) from the floor. The Black and Gold are 111-1 over the past six seasons when shooting 50 percent or better – including a 15-0 mark this season

X The Hilltoppers have a 117-2 record over the past seven years – including 23-0 this season – when holding their opponents under 80 points

X West Liberty has a 23-7 (.767) record in eight NCAA Tournament trips. That's the highest winning percentage of any current NCAA Division II program