MORGANTOWN – Morgantown boys basketball coach Dave Tallman was pleasantly surprised by his team’s result on Saturday as the Mohigans hosted Linsly to begin the 2024-25 campaign.
The three-time defending Class AAAA state champions opened the season with an all-around 88-48 victory against the visiting Cadets.
MHS senior guard Marty Johnson led scoring with a game-high 26 points. He combined with sophomore Max Frey, who had 24, for 50 points in the contest.
The Mohigans shot 53.7 percent from the field with six triples, while converting 24 of 30 attempts from the free-throw line.
“Very proud of our guys and their effort and I’m honestly not sure I expected that result,” Tallman said. “Linsly is an incredible program and is well-coached and they have some great players. When we watched the film, we were a little worried about this being the first game but our guys were dogs out there on the floor today. I’m super proud of our effort and we will continue to get better.”
The Mohigans (1-0) found their rhythm more as the first quarter went on, pulling ahead 15-4 midway through. But the Cadets (1-1) finished the opening eight minutes strong and cut the lead to seven at 16-9 after one.
Frey then caught fire in the second, nailing two triples and finishing at the rim. MHS opened a 17-point advantage at the halftime break behind the offensive efforts of the sophomore, who Tallman says earned valuable experience playing a role on the team last season.
“This is something we’ve had going on with our program for the last few years as far as younger guys putting their time in to improve and play roles on the court,” Tallman said. “Max got time last year as a freshman and Waylon (Colistra) as a sophomore so that sort of experience is super valuable for them as players but also for us as a team.”
Sophomore Colin Ridgeway and junior Cam Kellogg gave good minutes from the MHS bench on both sides of the ball. They combined for 12 points on four made baskets, with Kellogg converting all three of his free-throw attempts that came after being fouled shooting from beyond the arc.
“I thought the bench gave some great minutes tonight,” Tallman said. “Cam and Colin are two young guys who play bigger than they look and we can trust them to go out and give the effort we need to impact the game for us. Demarcus Bandy has improved tremendously since he’s been here also.”
Bandy finished with 11 points but impacted the game the most with his defensive effort and rebounding on both ends of the court.
MHS outscored the Cadets 46 to 23 in the second half to earn their first victory of the season.
The Mohigans will travel to Brooke on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip, before returning home next weekend to host Huntington, Washington, and University for the LG Holiday Classic.
BOX SCORE
Linsly 9 16 13 10 – 48
Morgantown 16 26 24 22 – 88
Linsly (1-1) – Goodwin 5 3-4 16 Salazar 5 4-6 14 Gill 4 0-0 12 Petrusich 2 0-0 4 Murray 1 0-0 2
Morgantown (1-0) – Johnson 8 6-11 26 Frey 8 3-3 24 Bandy 2 7-7 11 Savage 4 1-2 9 Colistra 2 4-4 8 Kellogg 2 3-3 8 Ridgeway 2 0-0 4 Deusenberry 1 0-0 2
3pt goals made – Linsly 7 (Gill 4 Goodwin 3); Morgantown 6 (Frey 3 Johnson 2 Kellogg 1)
