Men's Basketball | 2/26/2017 6:29:00 AM

Box Score WHEELING, W.Va. – Wheeling Jesuit hit five free throws in the final 18 seconds of the third overtime period here Saturday night to eke out a 101-98 upset win against No. 7-ranked West Liberty in a mutual regular season finale at the McDonough Center.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, Coach Jim Crutchfield's Hilltoppers (25-3, 19-3) had already clinched a second-place finish in the Mountain East Conference and a first-round bye in next week's tournament. The Cardinals (22-6, 16-6) also locked up a first-round bye with a third-place finish.
The final score of Saturday's game belies the fact that it was a defensive struggle from the opening tip with both teams shooting well under 40 percent from the floor for the evening.
The Hilltoppers never did find the range from the 3-point arc, missing 20 of their first 21 3-point tries and going 1-for-11 from deep in the three overtime periods.
"I suppose the good news is that we played a very good basketball team on their home court, shot 7-of-42 (16 percent) from behind the arc and were still in the game," Crutchfield said. "That's hard to believe but the problem was that, for a team that has been in this situation as often as we have, we don't do a very good job of closing out basketball games.
"We had the ball and the lead with less than a minute to play twice tonight. All we have to do is play smart basketball and we win the game but we made some bad decisions and paid the price."
Neither team led by more than four points from the midway point of the second half through the final buzzer. The score was tied, 73-73, at the end of regulation, 83-83 after the first overtime period and 93-93 heading into the final extra frame.
Pat Moseh drove to the hoop for a 95-93 Jesuit lead in the first 15 seconds of the third overtime with what proved to be the final basket of the game for the hosts.
Freshman Clay Guillozet, who had a huge game for WLU, knotted the score at 95-95 with a driving layup at 2:44 but the Hilltoppers came up empty on their next four possessions.
Kyle Ritz put WJU ahead to stay, 96-95, by going 1-for-2 from the line with 1:01 to play and Jarin Hilson added two more charity tosses for a 98-95 lead with just 18 ticks remaining following another West Liberty miss.
The Hilltoppers missed again on a potential tying 3-point try and Moseh was fouled as he grabbed the rebound with 10 seconds left. The Cardinal guard made it a two-possession game, 99-95, with 1-of-2 free throws. Devin Hoehn got a 3-pointer to go with 5.7 seconds left but Hilson added two more free throws to end the scoring.
Guillozet finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds – both game-highs – while playing 55 minutes before fouling out in the final minute of the third overtime. David Dennis added 21 points and 9 rebounds while Hoehn finished with 20 points. Leading scorer Dan Monteroso, seeing his first action in nearly two weeks due to injury, came off the bench for 15 points and 11 rebounds but fouled out at the start of the second overtime.
Wheeling Jesuit had three players with double-doubles as the Cardinals won the battle of the boards, 69-60, with 24 of those rebounds coming at the offensive end. The hosts also had an edge from the charity stripe, making 27-of-43 free throws to just 19-of-27 for the Hilltoppers.
Moseh tied Guillozet for game scoring honors with 25 points while Haywood Highsmith added 22 points and 14 rebounds. Ritz finished with 16 points and a game-high 16 rebounds with Hilson's 14 points rounding out the double-figure scorers.
"We just have to lick our wounds, put this game behind us and go back to the drawing board," Crutchfield said. "We'll see what the situation is when the tournament pairings come out and start preparing on Monday."
West Liberty won't hit the court again until Friday when they tip off at noon in a quarterfinal matchup against the survivor of Wednesday's first-round game between No. 7-seed Glenville State and No. 10 seed UVa-Wise. The Cardinals will follow WLU onto the Civic Center Coliseum court with a 2:15 p.m. quarterfinal against No. 6 seed West Virginia Wesleyan.