The West Liberty men's basketball team made its third Division II national semifinal in the last four seasons, holding off Stonehill 75-74 Wednesday in its national quarterfinal matchup.
The fourth-seeded Hilltoppers (31-3) will face top-seeded Lincoln Memorial at 7 p.m. Thursday for a spot in the D-II national title game.
A Devin Hoehn free throw with seven seconds left gave West Liberty a 75-71 lead and enough breathing room to withstand Stonehill's final push. Pierce Cumpstone hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left to cut the Hilltoppers' lead to one point, but Stonehill didn't have enough time to secure one more possession.
West Liberty and Stonehill stayed tight for much of the first half, but a 15-2 run in the middle of the second allowed the Hilltoppers to pull ahead 60-47. Stonehill chipped away at that lead until it reduced WLU's advantage to 74-71 on a Carter Smith layup with eight seconds left. Smith then fouled Hoehn, who made 1 of 2 from the free-throw line.
Hilltoppers senior Seger Bonifant led all scorers with 22 points and all rebounders with 11, while Hoehn added 19 points. Cumpstone led Stonehill with 21 points and 10 rebounds while making 5 of 7 3-pointers. West Liberty usually is accurate from long range, shooting 41.2 percent from 3 entering Wednesday's game, but made just 6 of 24 (25 percent) from beyond the arc versus Stonehill.
The Hilltoppers reached at least the national semifinals in both 2013 and 2014. West Liberty fell to Metro State (Colorado) in the 2013 semis, but beat South Carolina-Aiken in the 2014 semis and lost to Central Missouri in the title game.