MORGANTOWN – The Morgantown High boys’ basketball team closed day one of the 2024 Little General Holiday classic with a 67-38 victory over the Huntington Highlanders in a rematch of last season’s Class AAAA semifinal matchup.
MHS enjoyed a career performance from junior forward Waylon Colistra, who led the Mohigans with 20 points and 12 rebounds. The 6-foot-6 big was seven for nine from the field, converting six of his eight free throw attempts. Eight of his game-high 12 rebounds came on the offensive end.
Sophomore Max Frey and senior Marty Johnson added 10 points each. MHS (3-0) dished 13 assists as a team on 23 made field goals and outscored the Highlanders (0-2) by 18 points in the second half.
Both teams will return to the Rowdie Center for Day Two of the LG Holiday Classic. Huntington will meet University at 11:15 a.m., with the Mohigans battling Washington to follow. The Hawks fell to the Patriots 64-49 on Friday afternoon.
“I thought we came out a little flat to open the game,” MHS head coach Dave Tallman said. “It’s the last week of school before break, and everyone’s excited to have the time off. We didn’t prepare the best we could. But Waylon really stepped up for us tonight and I thought we got some good energy from our bench also.”
Morgantown held a 16-6 lead after the first quarter as Colistra scored the first eight points of the contest for his team. He finished the opening frame with three rebounds along with those eight points.
But Huntington began the second quarter with a quick 6-0 run over the opening two minutes. The Mohigans responded well, though, and sparked a run of their own 8-2 to open another double-figure lead 24-14.
The lead was cut to nine by Huntington with less than 10 seconds to go, but Frey went the length of the floor after to lay the ball in the basket just before the horn. MHS led 31-20 at the halftime break.
“We’ve been focusing on defense so much early in the season, so some of the offensive sets aren’t as crisp as we need them to be,” Tallman said. “It’s sort of the same thing every year: making sure our defense is solid early on and then cleaning up our execution on the offensive end.”
The work Tallman mentioned his crew has put in to prepare defensively showed in the third quarter, as the Mohigans outscored their opponents by 17 in the third quarter to swell the lead to 55-27 heading into the fourth.
Colistra finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds after three quarters. Despite not being a starter last season as a sophomore, he saw plenty of action for MHS. He says seeing his hard work pay off this early into the season has helped his confidence.
“I’m always training and working to improve,” he said. “Long nights in the gym with my brothers and playing over the summer to work on my game; seeing it pay off means everything. Knowing that my coaches have confidence in me means the world to me, and my teammates are what really gives me the confidence to play freely and let the game come to me. I owe them everything.”
BOX SCORE
Huntington 6 14 7 11 – 38
Morgantown 16 15 24 10 – 67
Huntington (0-2) – Hornbuckle 3 1-2 8 Lapsley 3 0-0 6 Dejneka 1 1-2 4 Chandler 2 2-4 6 Tubbs 3 0-2 7 Crawford 1 1-2 3 Daulton 0 1-2 1 Caprino 1 0-0 3
Morgantown (3-0) – W. Colistra 7 6-8 20 M. Frey 4 1-2 10 Johnson 3 4-4 10 Savage 3 2-2 8 Bandy 2 0-0 6 Ridgeway 2 2-2 6 Kellogg 2 0-0 5 S. Frey 0 2-2 2
3pt goals made: Huntington 4 (Hornbuckle 1 Dejneka 1 Tubbs 1 Daulton 1); Morgantown 4 (Bandy 2 Frey 1 Kellogg 1)
The University Hawks fell 65-49 to the Washington Patriots to fall to 1-1 on the season.
Senior Zach Demidovich led the way for the UHS, who trailed the entire game. Luke Byrer added 13 points and five rebounds.
“We just couldn’t get over that hump this evening,” UHS head coach Joe Schmidle said. “We kept getting within one or two possessions, and they hit some timely shots. They are a quick bunch and gave us some fits on offense when we were trying to get our sets going. We need to be ready for a quick turnaround with short memories because we return to play a very good team again tomorrow.”
The Hawks will kick off Day Two of the LG Holiday Classic against Huntington at 11:15 a.m. with Morgantown and Washington to follow.
BOX SCORE
University 6 14 17 12 – 49
Washington 11 19 17 17 – 65
University (1-1) – Demidovich 5 4-7 14 L. Byrer 6 1-3 13 Brown 2 2-2 7 Lewis 3 0-0 6 Toler 1 0-0 3 Adams 1 0-1 2 Karpinski 1 0-0 2 J. Byrer 1 0-0 2
Washington (2-0) – Doleman 5 4-4 17 King 2 2-2 7 Boardley 4 1-4 9 Proctor 5 0-0 13 Welti 6 1-1 13 Watkins 2 0-0 5
3pt goals made: Washington 8 (Doleman 3 Proctor 3 King 1 Watkins 1)
