CHARLESTON – Morgantown High is on top of the prep basketball world in the Mountain State.

The Lady Mohigans repeated as state champions earlier this month. Saturday night, history was made as Morgantown won its first boys’ state hoop crown.

Leading the charge for the Mohigans was an Ohio Valley native.

Dave Tallman, a Magnolia High grad and son of Blue Eagles’ coaching legend Dave Tallman Sr., turned the trick in just his second season at the Mohigans’ helm. It capped an unbelievable 27-0 campaign.

The state championship did not come easy. Such lofty achievements rarely do. After a fairly easy quarterfinal win against Hurricane, Morgantown faced two acid tests

The Mohigans slipped past Woodrow Wilson, 54-50, in the semifinals Friday, before putting the wraps on perfection with a 65-62 overtime triumph over Huntington. It marks the first unbeaten season by a Class AAA state champion since 1985 when Stonewall Jackson turned the trick.

“It is an unbelievable feeling. It is what dreams are made of,” Tallman said in a phone interview Sunday morning. “It is just a special ending to a special season with a group of special kids.

“They deserve everything they got,” he added. “Winning the school’s first boys’ state basketball title is a great achievement. Going 27-0 makes it even sweeter.”

Morgantown did make the state finals in 1956. The Mohigans lost to East Bank which featured legend Jerry West.

Win 27 nearly did not come to fruition Saturday night at the Charleston Civic Center.

“We were down by nine in the fourth quarter. We were playing zone. So we switched to pressure man. It was somewhat of a gamble,” Tallman said. “But it worked out well. We got some steals and went on a 12-0 run. It was meant to be.”

Before coming to Morgantown two years ago, Tallman coached 10 years at St. Mary’s Ryken Academy – a Virginia basketball power. It was time well-spent as he honed his coaching skills while making solid associations with WVU’s Bobby Huggins and VCU’s Shaka Smart (now Texas head coach).

Huggins and Smart, along with Wheeling Jesuit head coach Danny Sancomb, were all references that Tallman relied on to get the Morgantown post. Despite the void of state titles in Mohigans’ hoop archives, it was a job the New Martinsville native relished.

“Morgantown is a great school with a tremendous administration. It is the No. 1 academic rated school in West Virginia,” Tallman noted. “Never winning a state title made it even more attractive. Coaches like those challenges.

“I was confident we could win state titles here. It may have come a little quicker than expected,” he said. “It is special for this group to be the first to accomplish it. I am blessed to be at Morgantown High.”

Now with a state championship and a 27-0 now in its portfolio, Morgantown boys’ basketball takes on a new look. It goes from the hunter to the hunted.

“We are going to enjoy this for a while. We do lose four starters but we have good young kids coming up,” Tallman said. “I realize we now have a bull’s eye on our backs. I believe that bull’s eye started to pop up as we continued to stay unbeaten all season long. But that is something we will embrace.”

Kapral may be reached at bkapral@timesleaderonline.com