OK, so they were gasping for air before the opening tipoff. And so what that a few players appeared as though a basketball or two had been stuffed under their T-shirts. And yeah, it’s true that the ripples in their legs were more varicose veins than muscle.

But make no mistake — the rivalry between the 1958 editions of Bangor and John Bapst high schools is as fierce as ever. Sure, they shook hands, but so did Leonard and Duran.

And if the rusty behind-the-back passes weren’t enough to please the crowd that came to wish U.S. Sen. William S. Cohen a happy half-century of existence Saturday, spectators also were witness to Cohen nearly giving himself an early birthday present — arthroscopic surgery.

“I feel 30,” Cohen said half an hour or so before taking the court for the re-match, in which both teams combined to score a few points more than the Bangor squad did as teen-agers in 1958.

However, there were far fewer at Saturday’s game than the estimated 6,000 that packed the Bangor auditorium in 1958.

Master of Ceremonies Bud Leavitt shared most of the stories of the pimple days of Maine’s senior senator, the “kid from Hancock Street.”

“Billy Cohen is one of America’s great citizens,” said Leavitt, a columnist for the Bangor Daily News and the sports writer who covered the 1958 game.

As Saturday’s re-match began at Bangor High School, one woman in the stands wondered aloud about player injuries and questioned the wisdom of the players, many of them grandfathers, taking to the court. A medic stood nearby, a stethoscope well within his reach.

They didn’t have to wait very long.

It took nearly two minutes for the first basketball to pass through a hoop and just a little longer for the first injury — to the guest of honor, who tumbled to the newly-varnished floor with a Bapst player, straining his knee and keeping him on the bench for much of the game.

Mercifully, the game ended after 24 minutes, with Bangor again winning, this time 48-34.

Earlier in the day, about 150 people treated themselves to jazz, lunch and birthday cake. Partygoers also could buy just about anything they wanted with “Cohen for Senator” on it.