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By Shawn Rine for MountainEast.org

WHEELING, W.Va. – If University of Charleston coach Dwaine Osborne had a checklist heading into the Mountain East Conference Tournament men’s basketball championship game, it probably would have looked something like this:

Hold West Liberty to less than 50 percent shooting.

Limit the Hilltoppers to 3 of 17 shooting from 3-point range.

Find a way to keep WLU below 80 points.

The No. 3-seeded Golden Eagles (24-7) did all of those things Sunday inside WesBanco Arena. Yet still, top-seeded and No. 2-ranked West Liberty (29-2) walked away with the hardware. 

Conference player of the year Bryce Butler scored 17 points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds while Viktor Kovacevic led the way with 19 points as the Toppers rallied for their third victory of the season against UC.

The Hilltoppers, who also won the conference’s regular-season championship, rewarded Coach Ben Howlett with his record-tying second MEC Tournament crown, and they did so in a physical fashion.

“I thought we really struggled offensively in the first half and I thought it was a grind-it-out win in the second half,” Howlett said. “I thought we won three games three different ways this weekend.

“Friday against Wheeling it felt kind of rusty and we didn’t play our brand of basketball. On Saturday I thought we played the best we played all year. (Sunday) we had to grind it out and I thought our effort was good.

“It was a physical game. We had some guys in foul trouble and I thought we had some guys step up and help us, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

While true, the difference was a trademark West Liberty “blackout.” It was the only one the Toppers mustered, but it turned the tide and helped put yet another trophy in a crowded case.

After leading 29-28 at halftime, Charleston stretched the lead out to 43-35 on two of Keith Williams’ 19 points. WLU, however, did not wilt.

Butler had a steal and a basket, a pair of free throws and a tip-in during a 10-0 spurt that turned an eight-point deficit into a 45-43 lead.

“The game, in a lot of ways went how we wanted it to go,” Osborne said. “In my nine years we’ve played them in the championship three times – we’ve won one and now they’ve won two – and I think if you go back and look at them, it was 72-60, I think, two years ago when we played them. When we beat them it was 63-60.

“Everybody knows that West Liberty, what they do they do better than anybody. I don’t know if we do it better than everyone else, but we try to execute and do what we’re trying to do and it’s a contrast of styles.

“That makes for a slugfest.”

Williams tallied again to knot the score for the final time, but Christian Montague put WLU back in front for the rest of the night on a conventional three-point play. He lost the ball but gathered it in mid-air to finish the play and put his team back on top for good.

Lamont McManus, who has been a thorn in West Liberty’s side for five seasons and was again for perhaps the final time, tried to keep UC in it and scored inside to cut it to 54-53. Those, as it turned out, were the last of the big man’s 20 points – and perhaps not coincidentally, the Eagles’ final gasp as they had one field goal in the final 4-plus minutes.

Kovacevic put home his own rebound and provided some breathing room a few trips later with a 3-pointer from the wing that made it 60-53. It was the final of his three beyond the arc – he was 3 of 6 while the rest of his teammates were a combined 0-for-11.

“It was huge because we couldn’t hit a 3,” Howlett said. “I thought the best play of the game was on that 3 when Pat (Robinson) drove, and it was a great pass to find Viktor.

“I was just proud we were able to close it out.”

Following a pair of Williams free throws to cut the deficit to 62-57, Butler scored on a tough basket inside to put it away.

“When I look at the boxscore, I think it’s almost a game of ‘a little bit,’ ” Osborne said. “They make 24 shots, we make 23.

“They make three 3s and we make two – both teams probably set basketball back 20 years in that regard.

“They got a couple more rebounds than us (and) they got a couple more assists than us. We had more turnovers and they had one more steal.

“Every category was a little bit.”

McManus got the Golden Eagles off and running, scoring their first nine points. WLU had no answer for him, but somehow found a way to stay within one at halftime after McManus scored ahead of the buzzer. 

“What I told the guys at halftime is, we shot I think 9-for-31 in the first half and we were down one,” Howlett said. “I knew we were going to go on a run at some point and that we had to make sure we put them away when we did.’

Mission accomplished.

Will Yoakum, who is coming off two knee injuries, added 10 points for West Liberty and was named to the all-tournament team. Robinson, the Tournament Most Valuable Player, checked in with eight points, six rebounds and a pair of assists.

Those two were joined on the all-tournament team by McManus and Williams of UC, KJ Walker of Alderson Broaddus, Fairmont State’s Isaiah Sanders, who also won the highest scoring average, Wheeling’s Jordan Reid and Concord’s Matt Weir. McManus pocketed the Commissioner’s Heart and Hustle Award.

Tournament Leading Scorer
Isaiah Sanders (FAIR), 30.0 ppg (2 games)

Commissioner's Heart & Hustle Awards
Lamont McManus (UC)

All-Tournament Team
KJ Walker (AB)
Matt Weir (CU)
Isaiah Sanders (FAIR)
Jordan Reid (WU)
Lamont McManus (UC)
Keith Williams (UC)
Will Yoakum (WL)
MVP-Pat Robinson (WL)