MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown High defending state champion boys’ basketball team met Kennedy Catholic, the Pennsylvania defending state champ, on Dec. 29 and the match-up provided a showdown ending with a nearly full-court buzzer-beater shot by the Golden Eagles winning the first game of the Morgantown Holiday Classic, 67-64.

MHS (3-1) had a 31-game win streak entering the game and Kennedy Catholic (5-0) is still going strong with 28 in a row.

The match-up between these two powerhouses could not have been much closer. Each team made 25 baskets. Kennedy Catholic sunk 12 of 16 free throws, Morgantown 11 of 15.

This made for a great high school basketball environment, which is exactly what MHS head coach Dave Tallman wanted from this tournament.

MHS’s Torin Hanson and Nicky Solomon played the entire game, accumulating 20 and 15 points, respectively.

“Nicky and Torin showed a lot of guts tonight,” Tallman said. “They played very hard for a lot of minutes. I am very proud of those two. They are the leaders of our team and it continues to show.”

Kennedy Catholic had three of its starting five players standing over 6 foot 4. Drew Magestro led the Golden Eagles, tallying 22 points, including sinking five 3-pointers.

From the onset, it was a back-and-forth game. MHS took the lead at the start of the game but Kennedy Catholic was always there to answer and led, 17-15, after the first quarter.

The Mohigans stayed in the game in the second quarter but couldn’t regain the lead. MHS’s Nate Phillips hit a 3-point shot to close to one point, but Magestro answered with back-to-back 3-pointers that helped give Kennedy Catholic a 38-34 advantage at the half.

To open the third, MHS outscored Kennedy Catholic, 11-4, with seven of those points from the hands of Hanson. A buzzer-beater field goal by Solomon sealed a 55-53 lead for the Mohigans, only to foreshadow the game’s end.

MHS and Kennedy Catholic came out powerfully in the fourth quarter. Triple coverage on Solomon by the Golden Eagles forced the Mohigans to play aggressively and work together as a team.

“I just had to trust my teammates,” Solomon said. “When the ball is not in my hands, I have to trust that they can make plays too or that they will get open if I have the ball. I just have to rely on them all game long. We expected [the Golden Eagles] to come in and play us hard and fast like they did. And they are really good at it.”

With under a minute to play, Kennedy Catholic held a one-point lead, but the Mohigans’ Phillips sunk a free throw to tie the score at 64.

As the clock wound down and the crowd revved up, Kennedy Catholic fumbled the ball on the MHS side of the court, but Channing Phillips recovered it and chucked it at the net. The ball went right through, sparking a Golden Eagles celebration.

“It gave us a good experience and a different look at a good team who is big, fast and aggressive,” Solomon said. “We can take away a lot of things from it. I thought we played hard and rebounded well. We came together as a team and I think we can grow on our efforts and team play and be ready for our next game.”

Tonight the Mohigans face defending state Class AA champion Fairmont Senior. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.