Men's Basketball | 3/5/2017 7:32:00 PM

Box Score CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's basketball team scored 11 of the game's last 12 points here Sunday afternoon to shock No. 1-ranked Fairmont State, 67-65, in the championship game of the Mountain East Conference Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.
In a battle between two of the nation's highest-scoring teams, Coach Jim Crutchfield's No. 11-ranked Hilltoppers (28-3) got it done with defense.
The Falcons (29-2) seemed on their way to adding an MEC Tournament title to their regular-season championship when D'Ondre Stockman drained Fairmont's 10th 3-pointer of the day for a 64-56 lead with 5:14 remaining but Crutchfield knew his team still had plenty of gas in the tank.
"We weren't going to go away," Crutchfield said. "I never thought we were out of it and neither did any of my guys. I'm really proud of the way we played. We just kept getting stops and attacking the basket."
Dan Monteroso and David Dennis Jr. – who earned spots on the MEC's All-Tournament Team – keyed what proved to be the game-winning rally with a quick burst.
Monteroso got a tough jumper to go down off a curl cut with 4:07 remaining. Dennis then swiped the in-bounds pass and shoveled the ball over to Monteroso, who was fouled as he laid it in and cashed in the free throw to make it a one-possession game, 64-61, with 3:56 to go.
West Liberty came up with another defensive stop and Monteroso found freshman Clay Guillozet in the left corner for a game-tying 3-pointer, forcing a Falcon timeout with 3:03 remaining and the teams deadlocked at 64-64.
Neither team could dent the scoreboard for the next two minutes before a Dennis free throw put WLU ahead to stay, 65-64, with 1:03 on the clock.
The Hilltoppers dodged a pair of bullets when Fairmont's Matt Bingaya – the MEC Player of the Year – missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 51 seconds to play and then missed both ends of a 2-shot foul with 13 seconds left after West Liberty had failed to score.
Zac Grossenbacher rebounded the second miss and got the ball over to Dennis, who splashed home a pair of clutch free throws for a 67-64 lead with 10 seconds remaining. Fairmont missed a desperation 3-point attempt but got the rebound and was fouled on the in-bounds with 1.2 seconds showing.
Stockman hit the first free throw – the Falcons' only point in the final 5:14 – and missed the second one intentionally only to see Dennis swoop in for the rebound and fling the ball to the ceiling as the final horn touched off the celebration.
Dennis had a huge game with 23 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists while Tournament MVP Devin Hoehn backed up his 34-point night in the semifinals with 18 more on Sunday. Monteroso added 10 points with Guillozet contributing 9 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. Grossenbacher was held to 2 points but pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Hilltoppers had to overcome a tough shooting day from the perimeter and the charity stripe. West Liberty shot just 21 percent (3-of-14) from the 3-point arc and 58 percent (14-of-24) from the foul line while committing a season-high 17 turnovers but still found a way to come out on top.
"I heard the word resilience and that kind of describes the way we play," Crutchfield said. "I told them at halftime that we were going to win. Fairmont is a terrific basketball team that definitely deserved to be ranked No. 1 in the country. Of course, we've (beaten) them twice now so our guys must be pretty good, as well."
Bingaya and Thomas Wimbush led the Falcons with 18 and 17 points, respectively, while Vonte Montgomery added 10 more in a losing cause.
TOURNAMENT NOTES
X Hoehn moved up to No. 8 on West Liberty's career scoring list with 1,896 points, passing current Chaminade University head coach Eric Bovaird (1,893)
X Jim Crutchfield improved to 29-4 against Fairmont State during his 13 seasons with the Hilltoppers
X Crutchfield is 11-3 against current FSU head man Jerrod Calhoun and a perfect 9-0 in games played away from Joe Retton Arena
X The Mountain East Conference's regular season champion has never gone on to win the MEC Tournament 
X As the MEC Tournament champion, West Liberty receives the league's automatic bid to the Atlantic Region Tournament. Fairmont and Wheeling Jesuit are expected to receive at-large bids
X The Hilltoppers have won 5 of the last 6 regional championships, played in 3 of the last 4 NCAA Division II "Final Fours" and are gunning for their eighth straight trip to the "Sweet 16"
X The NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Tournament pairings will be announced tonight at 10:30 p.m. via a live webcast on the NCAA website (www.NCAA.com)