CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In his last matchup against West Liberty, Fairmont State coach Jerrod Calhoun put the ball in Brendan Cooper and Thomas Wimbush's hands and rode the two to a 93-81 upset win.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In his last matchup against West Liberty, Fairmont State coach Jerrod Calhoun put the ball in Brendan Cooper and Thomas Wimbush's hands and rode the two to a 93-81 upset win.

It was hard to utilize that strategy on Saturday, as both players struggled to just stay on the floor. Each picked up his fourth foul with over 13 minutes left and missed large chunks of time down the stretch.

Despite a spirited and furious rally by their teammates, No. 3 West Liberty proved to be too much in a 97-87 win in the second men's Mountain East Conference semifinal at the Charleston Civic Center.

The win moved the No. 1-seeded Hilltoppers into today's championship game against No. 2 University of Charleston. West Liberty will be looking for its fifth crown in a row when the ball goes up in the air at 3:30 p.m.

"The fifth-straight one doesn't mean as much as that we have a chance to win a championship tomorrow," West Liberty coach Jim Crutchfield said. "It's all about this year and these guys. We haven't talked about winning a championship, we've talked about opportunities and the opportunity is there."

After playing what Crutchfield said was one of the best halves his team had played all season in the first half, the Hilltoppers (26-2) had to survive some torrid shooting from Fairmont's guards.

Cooper (15.2 points per game) and Wimbush (14.6) are Fairmont's second- and third-leading scorers, respectively, but despite their absence, the Falcons were able to cut a 50-32 halftime deficit all the way down to 77-75 in the late going.

That's because Chase Morgan and Stevie Browning caught fire as Fairmont made 9 of 17 3-pointers as a team, including 8 of 12 in the second half.

"In the second half, it looked like we were giving up the lead but the shots they were making were very difficult shots Fairmont was hot," Crutchfield said. "A couple of times we had hands in the face of shooters and we did a pretty good job. Unfortunately, it wasn't good enough.''

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West Liberty holds off Fairmont State