Photo by Nick Henthorn West Liberty’s Myles Montgomery drives in for a layup attempt Friday during the Hilltoppers’ MEC Tournament quarterfinal game against Davis & Elkins inside WesBanco Arena.

WHEELING — The West Liberty Hilltoppers have been a mainstay in the MEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, having never failed to advance to the conference semifinals in the 12-year history of the tournament.

The top-seeded Hilltoppers preserved their pattern of success on Friday inside WesBanco Arena, though it was no easy task against a determined Davis & Elkins team, as the No. 8 seed gave West Liberty all they could handle in a 84-74 Hilltoppers victory.

West Liberty Hilltoppers head coach Michael Lamberti had played in the MEC tournament and coached as an assistant, but his first time out as a head coach was an eventful one.

“That was a classic March Madness game,” Lamberti said. “Physical as can be. Back-and-forth, a lot of lead changes. I thought we got off to a good start. Coming off a loss at Wheeling last game of the year, the focus was that we have to play a little bit harder, we have to play a little bit more focused, and I thought our guys did that. We were able to get to a pretty darn good lead in the first half. Under five minutes, we’re up 11, b we let them come back, gain a little momentum there going into the halftime break.

“And the message was, this is March, they’re not going to go away, they don’t want their season to end, we’re going to get their best fight. And the first five-to-10 minutes of the second half, [Davis & Elkins] kept fighting. And they were able to take that lead, put us in some bad spots, but our guys stayed steady, never panicked in that moment. We were able to regain the lead, execute on the offensive end there late in the second half and force a couple turnovers in our press. We made some free throws down the stretch and held on to the win.”

West Liberty led by as many as 13 in the first half, but the second half was gridlocked from nearly start to finish. Neither team led by more than six until the final two minutes of the game, where West Liberty put away the Senators with a late push to keep the Hilltoppers’ streak of semifinal appearances intact.

Defensive pressure is baked into West Liberty’s program, and the Hilltoppers turned WesBanco Arena into a warzone Friday with a frenzied fullcourt press that yielded 25 Senator turnovers. The Hilltoppers scored 26 points off of turnovers, while D&E scored four off seven West Liberty turnovers. Unsurprisingly then, West Liberty also held a decisive edge in the paint, scoring 46 points in the paint against Davis & Elkins’ 26.

All-MEC First-Teamers Jamie Muldowney (19 points, nine rebounds) and Myles Montgomery (15 points, six steals) led West Liberty. Peter Lattos scored 14 and Hayden Abdullah scored 13.

“To have that type of balance and just continue to fight the entire game, force 25 turnovers, a bunch of steals, our press caused some havoc and gave us some second chance or more possessions,” Lamberti said. “Our offensive rebounding gave us more possessions. And when we shoot 80 times and they only shoot 54, we’re going to have a high percentage of being able to win the basketball game.”

Friday was very physical for both the Hilltoppers and Senators. West Liberty’s Cameron Williams had to leave the game briefly in the second half because of a bleeding cut, and there were multiple stoppages to review potential flagrant fouls. Muldowney said that his team’s work behind the scenes left the Hilltoppers unfazed.

“Our practices get pretty physical,” Muldowney said. “We like to keep them running, we don’t like to slow them down. So we’re kind of used to this stuff. Monday, Tuesday, we went to war this week. We’re used to going to war. We don’t want to overreact when something bad happens out on the court. Kind of get up, dust yourself off. It’s a part of the game. I think we’re built for this. We do this every week. We beat the crap out of each other in practice every week, and it prepares us well for the game. I think that stood to our advantage today.”

Matthew Gray led Davis & Elkins with 18 points.

West Liberty will face No. 5 Glenville State on Saturday inside WesBanco in one half of the MEC Tournament Semifinals. The championship game is set for Sunday.