Malverne advances to Class B final

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As sure as shooting, each year as the calendar turns to February, the Malverne boys’ basketball team finds itself in position to vie for a county championship. This year is no different.  

With last Saturday night’s convincing 73-41 victory over No.4 Oyster Bay at LIU Post, the top-seeded Mules advanced to the Nassau Class B championship game where they will take on No.2 Wheatley this Friday at 1 p.m. at Post. Senior Aaron Jackson scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half as the Mules ran away from the Baymen. Junior Kazeem Martelli added 12 points and five blocked shots.

Malverne assistant coach Walter Aksionoff believes defense was the difference. “We played fantastic defense and did a terrific job at limiting their top scorers,” Aksionoff said. “Our overall play was very strong. We do a ton of running to get ourselves prepared to play on the bigger court come playoff time. We’re a little deeper than we were earlier on in the season. That helps us wear down opponents more on the big court.”

Oyster Bay, which fell to the Mules 57-52 when the teams last met earlier on this month, kept the game relatively close in the opening half, but with junior guard Chris Hackett and company shutting down Baymen’s top scorers, Oyster Bay had to look for other ways to score. The Mules held a 32-21 lead at the break, and they Baymen couldn’t get into any rhythm on the offensive end of the floor.

The second half was all Malverne. The undersized Baymen had no answers for the Mules tandem of Jackson and Martelli. With Jackson unstoppable in the paint, and Martelli blocking or altering nearly everything Oyster Bay put up, Malverne increased its lead to 55-34 as the teams took the court for the final eight minutes.

The Mules followed the game plan to keep the pressure on Oyster Bay’s Nick Carbone, Chris Papantoniou, and Robert Venegas, and it worked perfectly. The Baymen’s top three scorers were held to a combined 16 points. With the guards playing pressure defense, and the big men staying home, Oyster Bay had limited opportunities to score. Senior Jarmell Richardson added nine points for the Mules. Oyster Bay got team-high 16 points from Robert Howes.

Wheatley, the defending Class B champions, advanced to the finals with a dramatic triple-overtime win over a stubborn East Rockaway team. The Wildcats are solid team from the perimeter that likes to work the ball for the open look. The Mules, who won both meetings with Wheatley during the regular season, will be looking for their 20th county title.

“We’re not going to change anything we do on the defensive end,” Aksionoff said. “We’re going to press and try to wear down their guards. We have a size advantage, so we may look to play both our big guys down low.  They’re a smart, well-coached team. It should be a good matchup.”