Malverne’s boys’ basketball team rallied from a 13-point first-quarter deficit to beat Center Moriches for the Long Island Class B title on March 4. Junior Justin Williams scored 32 points, including 14 straight in the second quarter to give Malverne a 34-33 lead it would never relinquish.
A week earlier, the Mules shook off a lackluster first half to beat Oyster Bay, 71-58, to capture the Nassau County Class B title. Williams scored 21 points, 11 of which came during a 23-12 third quarter, to lead the Mules. The victory gave the Mules their 16th county championship, including three in a row.
Malverne coach Darrol Lopez knew Oyster Bay would present a challenge, but was more concerned with his own team. “We knew that he could score, we knew that they had some talent, but I was more interested in what we were going to do,” Lopez said. “We wanted to control the tempo and force them to do things that they didn’t want to do.”
The Mules came within a game of capturing the state Class B crown. In addition to Williams, Dashiem Cherry, Kadeem Bell and D.J. Williams were key players throughout the campaign.
