CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Morgantown became the first undefeated Class AAA boys basketball state champion since 1985 on Saturday, beating two-time defending champ Huntington 65-62 in overtime.
It was the first boys basketball championship for Morgantown (27-0) in school history.
“What’s crazy is our schedule,” said Morgantown coach Dave Tallman on the perfect record. “We didn’t play one AA or A team. We played all AAA teams and what’s sweet about beating Huntington is that we’re the undisputed champs – we beat everybody.
“We played them all and we beat them all,” Tallman continued. “That’s no disrespect to them, that’s just saying that we didn’t hide from anybody and I think that helped us when we battled adversity.”
Heading into Saturday, Morgantown owned wins over Class AAA state tournament teams Woodrow Wilson, Capital, Parkersburg South (twice), Martinsburg (twice) and Hurricane.
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The championship matchup with Huntington, however, was a battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2 as the Mohigans ultimately denied the Highlanders a third straight title.
“In the back of our minds, we kind of wanted Huntington,” Steven Solomon said. “Because people would have said, if we didn’t play them, ‘Oh, well, you guys didn’t beat Huntington.’
“They’re a heck of a team and they have great players,” he continued. “But no one can say that we didn’t beat the best.”
The Mohigans erased a nine-point, fourth quarter deficit on Saturday (48-39 with 6:11 remaining in regulation) by going on a 15-2 run, capped by a Kenzie Melko slam dunk at the 3:21 mark.
That bucket gave Morgantown a 54-50 advantage.
“It was everything that we had worked for,” Melko said of the comeback. “All of those days in the weight room and all the conditioning. We play every day in practice to be in this position and this situation and we came through.”
Huntington (25-2) scored the final four points of regulation to send the title game into overtime. The Mohigans quickly jumped out to a lead in the extra session, eventually taking a 63-59 advantage on a free throw from Nicky Solomon with just a minute to go.
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“The adversity we faced is probably the most we’ve faced all year,” Nicky Solomon said. “To come together as a team, it showed what bond we have together and that we’re never going to give up – no matter if we’re down 10 or 15.
“We came back and fought back,” he continued. “We looked at each other and we said that we were going to do this thing. We wanted to bring Morgantown its first state championship.”
A 3 from Huntington’s J.R. Howard cut the Morgantown lead to 64-62 with 11 seconds remaining. Morgantown followed with two missed free throws on the other end, opening the door for Huntington standout Tavian Dunn-Martin, who got the rebound and went the length of the floor for what looked like would be a game-tying layup – but it was too strong.
“It’s still surreal,” Steven Solomon said. “God is good. Nobody believed in us, but they should be believing now.”
Melko then hit one of two free throws for the Mohigans with 1.4 seconds on the clock. A last second heave for Huntington was off as Morgantown clinched its first championship.
The two teams were also tied at the half, 24-24, but Huntington used a 10-0 run late in the third to take a 41-37 advantage into the fourth, setting up Morgantown’s eventual comeback.
Morgantown dominated the boards, 44-26, and outscored Huntington in the paint 44-18.
Steven Solomon finished with 20 points, while Melko scored 17 and Nicky Solomon added nine points in the win. Howard led Huntington with 20 points and Dunn-Martin finished with 15.
It was Morgantown’s first trip to the state title game since 1956 when the Mohigans finished as runners-up to East Bank.
“When the (coaching) job was open, I said, ‘They’ve never won one?’” Tallman said. “That to me was an attractive thing and you never know what’s going to happen.
“It’s a lot of pressure and I wanted (at title) so bad and these guys wanted one so bad,” he continued. “If we would have lost, it would have been a miserable night. We’ve put so much into this.”
Click here for the complete MetroNews television broadcast of the AAA title game.
Watch below for coaches’ and players’ postgame reaction: