By Dana Williams
when the Mules took a 60-59 lead over Burke Catholic with 55 seconds left to play. Mules guard Craig Wilson, who finished the game with 17 points, passed the ball to forward Justin Williams on a fast break for a layup to give the team its first lead in the Class B Southeast Regional final. The Mules went on to beat the Eagles 63-61.
Malverne¹s usual fast-break game was missing at the start, allowing Burke Catholic, which led by 20 points late in the second quarter, to set the pace. The Eagles¹ half-court offense included back-door plays that helped the team take an early 22-13 lead by the end of the first quarter. However, Mules center Stephen Adekule¹s rebounding and put-backs helped the Mules fight back.
Malverne was also missing its leading scorer, Greg Lott, in the opening quarter due to a sprained ankle Lott suffered during the team¹s Long Island Class B title win over Wyandanch on March 6. The guard and forward spent the entire first quarter alternating between riding an exercise bike and jogging in place on the sideline.
Lott entered the game almost a minute after the start of the second quarter, and cut the Eagles¹ lead to 14 points by scoring on put-backs and free throws just before halftime. ³Greg was hurt, but he played through it,² Williams said. ³That¹s what you call a player. He¹s like my older brother, and I look up to him.²
³I told the team, ŒWe are going to have a better second half¹ in the locker room at halftime,² Malverne¹s head coach, Darrol Lopez, said afterward. ³At that point there wasn¹t too much I could say as a coach. They had to rise to the occasion, and thank God they did.²
The momentum didn¹t swing in the Mules¹ direction until late in the third quarter, after Williams, who left the game early because of foul trouble, returned to the court. ³I didn¹t get the calls from the refs, but when I came back I had to play my role,² Williams said. The forward, who finished the game with 14 points, drained a 3-pointer followed by a put back to help the Malverne outscore Burke 17-5 in the third quarter.
³Justin stepped up big, and he took a lot of pressure off my back coming into this game with my ankle hurt,² Lott said. ³He¹s like my little brother, and he showed up in clutch time and I¹m proud of him.²
The Mules also switched to a zone defense, pressuring the Eagles into making costly turnovers and taking forced shots just before the shot clock expired. ³We did a little bit of a twist in the second half by going into our diamond defense,² Malverne¹s associate coach, Walter Aksionoff said, adding that guards Matthew Bates and Bryan Hector elevated their games during Lott¹s absence. ³That defense kind of caught our opponents off guard. The name of the game is defense.²
Eagles guard Derrick Stanton, who finished the game with 17 points, had a hot hand beyond the 3-point line early in the game, and it continued in the opening of the fourth quarter. His teammates set two screens against the Mules to get him open for a 3-pointer that put Burke up by four with 6:52 left to play .
Making the most of the zone defense, Mules guard Dariel ³DJ² Williams made two key steals late in the game that led to fast-break layups. ³I just want to thank my coach for keeping me in the game to make the steals, because I was having a really bad game,² he said. The point guard scored a layup off the first steal to bring the Mules within a point, 59-58, with 1:40 left, and then Justin Williams connected on a layup after Dariel Williams¹s second steal with 26.6 seconds left to give Malverne control of the game.
In the subsequent Malverne possession, the Eagles fouled Wilson, who made one of two free throws, with 12 seconds left. Burke Catholic scored on a layup shortly afterward, making it a 1-point game, but the Eagles were forced to foul Dariel Williams on the next possession with 1.8 ticks left on the clock. Williams hit one of the free throws, and the Mules had the victory.
³I¹m very happy for the team, and I¹m so proud of these kids right now,² Lopez said. ³They deserve this win because they played with their hearts and they left all of their blood, sweat and tears on the court.²
With a ticket to the Class B state semifinals in upstate Glens Falls, the Mules will play Hannibal High School on Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
³It¹s going to be a great trip to Glens Falls, but it¹s right back to business now,² Lopez said. ³We¹re going to get back to practice to work on our rebounding, defense and foul shooting. We plan to do even better up there.²
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