Another L.I. title for Malverne; Wyandanch brawl clouds victory

Only school administrators, security personnel and members of the media were permitted to witness the final 1:03 of Malverne’s 79-71 victory over Wyandanch in the Long Island Class B boys’ championship game at Bay Shore High School on March 9 night due to a spectator brawl.

The Mules were leading 73-68 when a melee involving Wyandanch fans during a timeout escalated with Warriors senior point guard Jorrell Pinckney joining the fray, which involved members of his family. After a 20-minute delay, 1,000 spectators were cleared from the gym and the game resumed in front of empty stands.

“I was just making sure everyone on our side was OK,” Malverne coach Darrol Lopez said. “That’s all I was worried about. We were fortunate everything happened at the other end of the gym.”

Senior guard Dashawn Moorer poured in 37 points, including 26 in the first half when he matched Wyandanch’s total, to lead the Mules to their fourth consecutive L.I. title. Junior guard Cory Alexander added 15 points for Malverne, which improved to 15-5 but missed out on a trip to Glens Falls when it lost 74-46 to Burke Catholic last Friday at Pace University in the state Southeast Regional final.

“Our coaches have been telling us for weeks the next game can be our last,” Moorer said after beating Wyandanch. “We don’t want the season to end. We want to get back to Glens Falls.”

Pinckney was ejected from the game and assessed a technical foul for leaving the court. When play resumed, Moorer made good on one of two technical free throws. “I’m used to hearing crowd noise during free throws,” Moorer said. “It was so quiet. It was harder to concentrate.”

Wyandanch eventually trimmed the margin to 75-71 with 24 seconds remaining, but sophomore Jeffrey Voltaire hit a pair of free throws and junior Ronald Spencer added one to seal Malverne’s victory in a game that featured 55 fouls.

“I thought the refs did a good job in a game with two teams that go up and down the court,” Lopez said. “They controlled the game and let us play at the same time.”

In addition to Pinckney, who had 13 points, three other key Wyandanch contributors were out of the game in the fourth quarter. Saheam King (12 points) fouled out with 6:16 remaining, Alexander Williams fouled out with 5:36 to go and Will Hart drew his fifth personal with 2:26 left. No Malverne players fouled out, though three came within a foul of doing so.

The Mules were in foul trouble early with Alexander and junior Xavier Bernard each picking up two within the first three minutes. “They’re both juniors and I knew they were going to be a little anxious,” Lopez said. Senior Christian Lee and sophomore Alton Kelly were strong off the bench, and Moorer hit for 13 points in the opening quarter as Malverne took an 18-13 lead.

“Dashawn’s carried us the whole year,” Mules assistant coach Walt Askionoff said. “He’s our bread and butter. The damage he does comes within the normal flow of the game, which is great for us.”

Moorer scored 10 points during a 14-4 run to close the first half as Malverne led by 12 at intermission. The Mules enjoyed their biggest lead at 48-32 midway through the third quarter, but Qualice Jones (27 points) put the Warriors on his back and made a game of it.

Wyandanch scored 14 of the first 19 points of the fourth quarter and trailed 61-58 with 4:25 remaining, but the Suffolk champs would get no closer.

“We didn’t keep the defense up and let them back in it,” Moorer said. “But we never gave up the lead.”