Malverne zips past East Rockaway

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Perfection can be difficult to find in the game of basketball. But last Saturday afternoon, the Malverne boys’ basketball team put forth an eight-minute stretch that was just about as close to perfect as it can get.

The Mules outscored visiting East Rockaway 23-0 in the second quarter of a Nassau Conference ABC clash, en route to a 75-37 victory. While Malverne shot a high percentage from the field, it was the team’s intense man-to-man defense that was the catalyst for their dominant second stanza. 

“Our philosophy for coaching is defense, defense, defense,” Malverne associate head coach Walter Aksionoff said. “Our goal is to create offense off our defense. They just weren’t prepared for the pressure that we put on them, and we had a very good quarter.”

For the Rocks, the game was far from perfect. Head coach Joe Lores had a rather simple message for his squad, before their next game at the Barclays Center on Monday. 

“What we’re doing isn’t working, and we have to get better,” Lores said. “We’re very excited for our game at the Barclays, and hopefully we can give a little bit better effort than we did today.” 

Junior Makhia Effs was one of the Mules’ biggest standouts in Saturday’s matinee. He finished with a game-high 25 points, 13 of which came in the team’s monster second quarter. During that stretch he drained three from beyond the arc. 

“My coach told me to start with making two-pointers, and then expand my game from there,” Effs said. “I was able to do that and help us win today.”

In the second half, the spotlight was passed over to Malverne senior Malik Bulgin. He was dominant on the inside, finishing with an impressive double-double of 15 points and 16 rebounds. 

Askionoff was quite pleased with the efforts he got from Effs and Bulgin in the contest.

“Makhia is phenomenal, and was doing a great job of shooting and driving today,” he said. “And Malik had an outstanding third quarter. He was scoring non-stop in the paint. That’s what we need from them.”

The Mules got offensive contributions from several different players, including 20 combined points from senior Kian Kimanyan, sophomore Ta’shawn Hampton and sophomore Elliot Edwards. Junior Michael James also dished out seven assists in the game. 

Senior Nick Parziale led the way offensively for East Rockaway, finishing with 13 points and a trio of made three-pointers. The Rocks also got nine points from Junior Kevin Howard.

For Malverne, the victory was a much-needed one, as the team continues to fight for a postseason berth. 

“If we get to the playoffs, I think we can surprise some people like we did two years ago,” Askinoff. “The kids are starting to believe in themselves.”

It has not been a perfect season for the Mules. But, eight near-perfect minutes could propel the team to big things over the next month. 

 “A win like this really boosts our confidence a lot,” Effs said. “This was a real fun game.”