It was beginning to look like Bryce Butler – and his West Liberty teammates – would never be able to stop the bleeding.
Butler, sidelined with a profusely bleeding injured nose for much of the final six minutes of the Hilltoppers’ Final Four game against Black Hills State, could only watch as his team’s 18-point second-half lead was whittled to five with 1:01 left in Thursday’s game.
In the end, however, the Latrobe native was able to return to the floor, as he and Malik McKinney staved off a furious Black Hills State comeback to send West Liberty to its second NCAA Division II national championship game in school history with an 87-82 victory at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” said sixth-year West Liberty coach Ben Howlett of Butler. “That’s just who he is, it’s kind of how he was raised. He’s in a basketball family, his mom and his dad and all his brothers played basketball. They’re all winners. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that he came back and contributed to the win after he got hurt.”
Butler and McKinney each finished with 16 points to lead the No. 2 seed Hilltoppers (33-3), from West Liberty, W. Va., past the No. 3 seed Yellow Jackets (29-6) for their 18th consecutive victory.
“He took advantage of a matchup that we saw before the game and we put him in some isolation set plays,” Howlett said of McKinney. “He’s pretty good when he gets going downhill and going to his left. I just think he took advantage of it and executed the sets very well.”
Forward Chaz Hinds also scored 14 points and guard Steve Cannady added 13 for West Liberty, which last appeared in the national title game in 2014 when it dropped an 84-77 decision to Central Missouri.
Another shot at a title for the Hilltoppers was in jeopardy thanks to Black Hills State’s Joel Scott.
The senior forward scored a game-high 30 points, 23 in the second half, to lead the Yellow Jackets’ comeback, while forward PJ Hayes scored 17 points, freshman guard Jaeton Hackley pitched in 11 and graduate student Sindou Cisse added 10 in the program’s first Final Four contest.
“He flexed his muscles a little bit,” Howlett said of Scott. “We did a good job on him in the first half. He caught the ball way too deep on us from a defensive standpoint.
“He’s a really good player,” Howlett added. “I’m glad we don’t have to play against him again.”
The Hilltoppers advance to play Nova Southeastern at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Division II championship game, which will be televised live on CBS.
No. 1 seed Nova Southeastern defeated No. 4 seed Cal State San Bernardino, 94-87, in the other Final Four game Thursday at the Ford Center.
Nova Southeastern (35-0) had five players score in double figures, led by guard Kobe Rodgers with 21 points. Guards Jonathan Pierre and Will Yoakum contributed 18 points each for the Sharks, while forward RJ Sunahara scored 14 and Dallas Graziani added 13.
Brandon Knapper scored a game-high 32 points for Cal State San Bernardino (31-3), as Dontrell Shuler contributed 18 points, Mahmoud Fofana 13 and Sedrick Altman 10.
West Liberty, which cruised to a 95-58 victory against No. 7 seed New Haven in the Elite Eight, looked as if it might coast again after taking control with two first-half runs.
The Hilltoppers opened the game on a 17-11 run, led by Butler’s seven points, while the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorers on the season, Scott and Matthew Ragsdale, were held scoreless.
West Liberty then went on a 12-2 run, which was punctuated by a Cannady basket that lengthened the lead to 32-21.
Butler scored 12 points in the first half, while Hinds scored 10. McKinney and Cannady each added seven for the Hilltoppers.
McKinney’s basket just ahead of the first-half buzzer handed West Liberty a 47-31 advantage at the break.
The Hilltoppers shot 54.5% from the field in the first half and made 5 of 12 from beyond the 3-point arc.
While West Liberty excelled offensively in the first half, Black Hills State struggled to find its scoring touch.
Hackley kept the Yellow Jackets in the game early, scoring eight first-half points.
Scott scored seven first-half points, while Ragsdale managed only three. Black Hills State shot just 34% from the field in the first half and made 3-of-10 3-pointers with seven turnovers to trail by 16 at the break.
“I thought we had a really good first half,” Howlett said. “I thought the energy was good. I thought the tempo was really, really good. It got a little sour there in the second half.”
West Liberty redshirt freshman Dante Spadafora, an Our Lady of the Sacred Heart graduate, made a 3-pointer that handed his team a 57-39 advantage with 16:31 left in the contest.
Black Hills State responded with a 21-13 run that cut the West Liberty lead to 70-60 when Yellow Jackets guard Hoku Fisher made a 3-pointer with 9:32 left in the game.
The game’s momentum continued to swing when Butler was then inadvertently hit in the face with an elbow by teammate Ben Sarson, a Central Catholic graduate, and West Liberty leading, 77-66, with 5:37 left.
The Yellow Jackets went on an 11-5 run, which was punctuated by a 3-pointer by Hayes, which trimmed the Hilltoppers’ lead to 82-77 with 1:01 remaining.
“They’re a good team,” said Howlett of Black Hills State. “Maybe they didn’t play as well as they wanted to in the first half. I think they hit some shots in the second half. We lost some shooters at times, and a couple of those guys, when they have their feet set and they’re open, they’re probably going to make it and we lost those guys.”
McKinney and Butler, however, would ice the game away at the free-throw line. McKinney made four foul shots in the final minute, while Butler added one.
Howlett said the injury to Butler’s nose was evaluated following the game.
“It might be very slightly broken, but our trainer said he’s actually doing fine right now,” said Howlett. “He’ll be good to go for Saturday.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.