Third-seeded West Liberty held off five separate Fairmont State comebacks and eked out a hard-fought 96-93 victory in Thursday's West Virginia Conference men's tournament quarterfinals at the Civic Center.

The Hilltoppers, who led by as many as 12 points in the back-and-forth contest, rode the clutch play of Shane Maynard and Corey Pelle to put the Falcons away.

Jamal Womble tipped in a shot to pull Fairmont within three, 90-87, with 22 seconds remaining. The Falcons fouled Maynard on the ensuing inbounds pass and the senior from Beckley calmly sank both ends of a double-bonus to push the lead to five.

Fairmont's Dan Bruner hit a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner and cut the lead to 92-90 with 14 seconds left, but Pelle answered with two free throws.

Womble, playing what observers called the game of his career, drilled a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left to make it a one-point contest. But Pelle got behind the Fairmont press for a buzzer-beating dunk to set the final margin.

Fairmont State coach Tim Murphy praised his team for coming back so many times against the Hilltoppers, who average 99 points a game.

"That's one team you don't want to play from behind," he said. "We were able to cut the lead, but we weren't able to go ahead because they're so good on offense. They're the type of team that can bury you if you let them, but we didn't let them. I'm really proud of the way our guys played."

Fairmont got behind because West Liberty came out hot. The Hilltoppers hit six 3-pointers in the game's first five minutes and took an 11-point lead.

"They must have scored on eight or 10 possessions in a row. It seemed like 100," Murphy said.

Third-seeded West Liberty held off five separate Fairmont State comebacks and eked out a hard-fought 96-93 victory in Thursday's West Virginia Conference men's tournament quarterfinals at the Civic Center.

The Hilltoppers, who led by as many as 12 points in the back-and-forth contest, rode the clutch play of Shane Maynard and Corey Pelle to put the Falcons away.

Jamal Womble tipped in a shot to pull Fairmont within three, 90-87, with 22 seconds remaining. The Falcons fouled Maynard on the ensuing inbounds pass and the senior from Beckley calmly sank both ends of a double-bonus to push the lead to five.

Fairmont's Dan Bruner hit a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner and cut the lead to 92-90 with 14 seconds left, but Pelle answered with two free throws.

Womble, playing what observers called the game of his career, drilled a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left to make it a one-point contest. But Pelle got behind the Fairmont press for a buzzer-beating dunk to set the final margin.

Fairmont State coach Tim Murphy praised his team for coming back so many times against the Hilltoppers, who average 99 points a game.

"That's one team you don't want to play from behind," he said. "We were able to cut the lead, but we weren't able to go ahead because they're so good on offense. They're the type of team that can bury you if you let them, but we didn't let them. I'm really proud of the way our guys played."

Fairmont got behind because West Liberty came out hot. The Hilltoppers hit six 3-pointers in the game's first five minutes and took an 11-point lead.

"They must have scored on eight or 10 possessions in a row. It seemed like 100," Murphy said.

But every time the Hilltoppers' lead reached double digits, Fairmont came back. The Falcons pulled within two at the 9:50 mark, trailed by 10 with 3:12 left and cut the deficit to one point at the half.

West Liberty pushed the lead to 10 on three separate occasions in the second half, but still couldn't put Fairmont away.

Thad McFadden, the conference's leading scorer, had 33 points to lead the Falcons. Womble tallied career highs with 28 points and 12 rebounds and Bruner added 24 points, all on 3-pointers.

Senior Ben Howlett led the Hilltoppers with 28 points. Maynard and Pelle added 20 and 17, respectively. Sophomore forward John Wolosinczuk racked up his seventh double-double of the season with 16 points and 16 rebounds.

West Liberty coach Jim Crutchfield called Pelle's contributions "the absolute key" to the Hilltoppers' victory.

"We were playing too much of a two-man offense [with Howlett and Maynard]," he said. "Corey's performance was the key to getting the rest of our offense going."

West Liberty (23-6) will face second-seeded Alderson-Broaddus (25-4) in today's 6:30 semifinal contest.

The Hilltoppers beat the Battlers 97-87 in their only meeting this season.

Reach John McCoy at 304-348-1231 or johnmc...@wvgazette.com.