Men's Basketball | 3/11/2017 3:45:00 PM

Box Score FAIRMONT, W.Va. – Zac Grossenbacher's apparent game-winning 3-pointer was overruled after the buzzer and No. 7 West Liberty's season came to an end here Saturday with a 96-95 overtime loss to Wheeling Jesuit in an NCAA Division II Atlantic Region quarterfinal at Joe Retton Arena.
It was an especially hard loss to swallow for Coach Jim Crutchfield's short-handed Hilltoppers (28-4), who had battled through significant adversity throughout the afternoon only to come up one tick shy of victory.
After losing key reserve guard Brady Arnold to a practice injury during the week, WLU played without leading scorer Dan Monteroso for most of Saturday's game when the first-team All-MEC wing had to leave the floor with a leg injury less than 7 minutes after the opening tip and was unable to return.
Nevertheless, after the teams battled to an 85-85 tie at the end of regulation, West Liberty had a 95-93 lead in overtime after David Dennis Jr. hit 1-of-2 free throws with just 20 seconds remaining.
The Cardinals (24-7) tried to drive to the basket but couldn't find a lane so Kyle Ritz kicked the ball out to Preston Boswell for a desperation 3-point try from just in front of the Wheeling Jesuit bench.
Boswell's shot was offline but hit the backboard and fell through, putting the Cardinals up, 96-95, with 5.4 seconds to play.
The Hilltoppers got the ball into Devin Hoehn, who lost his balance after being bumped and shoveled the ball over to Zak Kirkbride. The senior forward fired a long pass to Grossenbacher in the front court, who took a quick dribble to his left and banked in his own 30-footer as the buzzer sounded.
The shot was originally ruled good by the officials, which touched off a wild celebration from the huge West Liberty contingent in the stands.
Unfortunately for the Hilltoppers and their fans, the call was reversed after a lengthy video review showed time had expired just before the ball left Grossenbacher's fingertips and it was Wheeling Jesuit that advanced to Sunday's regional semifinal.
The heartbreaking loss overshadowed a remarkable effort from an injury-riddled Black and Gold squad.
West Liberty had jumped out to an early 10-2 lead before the injury to Monteroso. Jesuit battled back to take its first lead, 14-13, on a conventional 3-point play by Haywood Highsmith and the game see-sawed back and forth for several minutes.
The Hilltoppers hit a cold spell during the latter stages of the half and a 16-3 WJU run gave the Cardinals their biggest lead of the day, 41-27, as the clock ticked under 4 minutes but West Liberty closed the half on a 14-4 surge to trail just 45-41 at the break.
Jesuit pushed the lead to 50-41 in the first minute of the second half but Dennis and senior guard Devin Hoehn fueled a strong answer for the Hilltoppers.
Dennis stopped the bleeding with a spinning drive down the lane and then fed freshman Clay Guillozet for a clutch 3-pointer that keyed a 20-5 WLU spurt over the next 6 minutes. Hoehn scored 11 of the 20 points and Brandon Smith capped it with a steal and layup for a 61-55 West Liberty lead with 13:13 on the clock.
Jesuit responded once again and the game was tied at 83-83 after a 12-foot jumper from Highsmith with 1:42 left in regulation.
The Hilltoppers' James Griffin missed a 3-pointer but a heads-up Dennis tipped the rebound over to Guillozet for a putback to make it 85-83 with 1:22 to go.
A driving layup by WJU's Pat Moseh tied it at 85-85 with a minute to go, ending the scoring in regulation and setting up the decisive overtime frame.
Dennis had a huge game for the Hilltoppers, scoring a career-high 30 points to go along with 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Hoehn also impressed with 30 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in his final game. Guillozet added 16 points – all of them coming after halftime – and Griffin rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 tallies.
Highsmith paced Wheeling Jesuit with 23 points and 16 rebounds while Moseh matched the 23 points and chipped in with 8 boards. Boswell finished with 18 points off the bench and Ritz added 10 points.