WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Senior forward Eric Meininger drained a 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining here Wednesday night to give No. 7 West Liberty a 99-98 victory over Notre Dame in a Mountain East Conference classic before a raucous crowd at the ASRC.
    The win clinched a second consecutive outright MEC championship for Coach Ben Howlett's Hilltoppers (23-3, 19-2) and completed a season sweep of the Falcons (19-8, 15-6), who checked in at No. 8 in the latest NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings.
    "I told our guys at shoot-around today that this would be a 40-minute war and that's exactly the way it played out," Howlett said. "It was a high-level basketball game between two very good teams. Every shot was contested, every rebound was a battle and both teams left it all on the floor. I'm extremely proud of our guys for coming away with the win."
    There were five ties and 11 lead changes in the second half alone as neither team led by more than three points over the final 15 minutes.
    A conventional 3-point play by Notre Dame's Will Vorhees – the 3-time NCAA Division II National Player of the Week – forged a 94-94 deadlock with 1:54 remaining.
    The teams traded empty possessions before the Falcons went up, 96-94, at the 41-second mark with a pair of Bruce Hodges free throws.
    Senior guard Brady Arnold splashed home two clutch free throws to forge the game's final tie, 96-96, with 25 ticks remaining but the 6-8 Vorhees – who finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds – swished a 16-foot fallaway jumper for a 98-96 Notre Dame lead with 5 seconds left.
    "We practice that situation all the time," WLU guard Dalton Bolon said. "We don't want to call a timeout to let the defense get set. We want to get the ball in as fast as we can and try to put the defense on their heels. I think that might have happened because Eric got a great look and buried it."
    Meininger, a senior playing his final game on the ASRC floor, got the ball just as he crossed midcourt. After a couple of quick dribbles, he pulled up from a few feet above the top of the key and hit nothing but net for a 99-98 WLU lead.
    "My emotions are still going crazy," Meininger said, "but the ball felt good leaving my hand. This was my last game here and I'm definitely going to remember it my whole life."
    Following a Notre Dame timeout, Vorhees drew iron on a desperation shot off a three-quarter court pass but the ball didn't drop, touching off a celebration on the Hilltopper sidelines.
    "Winning the outright conference championship again was important to us," Howlett said. "We had already clinched a tie but we didn't want to share. We wanted this one for our seniors."
    Meininger led the Hilltoppers with 21 points and 8 rebounds while Bolon just missed a double-double with 18 points and 9 boards. Marlon Moore came up big off the bench again. The 6-5 sophomore had 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor while also collecting 6 rebounds, 3 steals and a pair of blocks. Freshman guard Yahel Hill rounded out the double-figure scorers with 14 points.
    "Eric and Marlon were guarding Vorhees all night and I thought they did a really good job," Howlett said. "He's an incredible player who still got his points but Eric and Marlon made him work for them."
    Vorhees was far from a one-man show for the Falcons. Drew Scarberry whipped in 8 3-point field goal and went 5-for-5 from the foul line to total 29 points while Larenz Thurman added 23 points and 5 assists.
    West Liberty closes out the regular season on Saturday when the Hilltoppers make the short trek down Route 88 to take on Ohio County rival Wheeling Jesuit. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at the McDonough Center.