BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – Eric Meininger had West Liberty's first triple-double in nearly a decade and the No. 2-ranked Hilltoppers used a late 17-3 surge to get past upset-minded West Virginia Wesleyan, 80-71, Monday night at Rockefeller Arena.
    It was the fourth straight win for Coach Ben Howlett's youthful Hilltoppers (4-1, 2-0) but seeing the veteran Bobcats (3-2, 1-1) give the Black and Gold all they could handle for the first 35 minutes came as no surprise to the second-year coach.
    "Wesleyan is a very good basketball team that's going to win a lot of games," Howlett said. "We saw them in the Crossover Tournament at our place and watched the tape from when they beat Wheeling (Jesuit) on Saturday so we knew what we were getting into."
    West Liberty got off to a good start, opening up a 12-5 lead on a Keegan Saben jumper as the first-half clock ticked past the 15-minute mark, but couldn't pad the margin.
    Relying on an aggressive zone defense to keep the Hilltopper offense at bay, Wesleyan began to find the range from the perimeter and turned the tables on the visitors.
    Knocking down eight 3-pointers while holding West Liberty to just 23 points for the final 15 minutes of the half, the upset-minded Bobcats carried a 40-35 lead into intermission.
    Wesleyan took its biggest lead of the night, 43-35, when Fred Brondsted opened the second half with a 3-point bomb but WLU's Will Yoakum answered with a 3-pointer at the other end and Yahel Hill finished off an assist from Meininger to make it a one-possession game, 43-40, less than a minute later.
    The 6-5 Meininger, the only senior in the WLU lineup, finished the night with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists – many of them coming during the Hilltoppers' decisive late-game run.
    It was the first triple-double by a West Liberty player since Mike Mathey had 13 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in a 142-62 blowout of Concord on Jan. 23, 2010 at the ASRC.
    A Dalton Bolon 3-pointer and a short jumper by Yoakum forged the first tie of the second half, 45-45, with 16:24 on the clock and the game swung back and forth for the next few minutes before West Liberty finally took charge.
    Marcus Larsson's 3-pointer with 8:38 to go gave Wesleyan its final lead, 62-60, but Bolon hit a jumper to tie it as the clock ticked under 8 minutes. Two Meininger free throws put WLU ahead to stay, 64-62, at the 7:11 mark but Howlett's Hilltoppers were just getting started.
    Back-to-back baskets by Yoakum – including a 3-pointer from the corner off a brilliant assist from Luke Dyer – made it 69-62 at the 5-minute mark.
    Brondsted tried to stop the bleeding with another 3-pointer, cutting the deficit to 69-65, but that proved to be Wesleyan's only points during this crucial 6 1/2-minute span.
    Meininger whipped a kick-out pass to Dyer for another 3-pointer and Dyer fed Bolon for yet another bonus bomb and the game's first double-digit lead, 75-65, forcing a Bobcat timeout with 2:31 to play.
    The Hilltoppers delivered two more defensive stops and Meininger found a wide-open Yoakum under the basket, capping the 17-3 run and putting the game out of reach, 77-65, with just 90 seconds to go.
    "I'm tremendously proud of our guys," Howlett said. "For us to go up against that tricky zone defense of Wesleyan's for 40 minutes and come away with a win is huge for our team. That's the kind of win that can pay big dividends for a young basketball team."
    Bolon led all scorers with a game-high 23 points, including 5 3-pointers, while Yoakum joined Bolon and Meininger in double-figures with 16 points. Brondsted hit 5 3-pointers and paced the Bobcats with 17 points. Dusan Vicentic and Luca Petrovic backed Brondsted with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
    The Hilltoppers will be idle over the Thanksgiving break but return to MEC action on Nov. 28 when they host Urbana in a 7:30 p.m. game at the ASRC.