Malverne falls in tournament final

Senior Dillon Williams scored 21 points, dished out eight assists, and pulled down nine rebounds to lead Elmont to a convincing 66-44 victory over host Malverne in the championship game of the annual Hank Williams Memorial Tournament on Dec. 30.

Williams scored 13 points in the opening half as the Spartans ran out to a 29-4 lead and never looked back. Malverne (4-1, 2-0 in Conference B-C) got nine points from Cory Alexander and Anthony Moultre.

Malverne coach Darrol Lopez saw the loss as a bump in the road. “It’s a learning experience for us,” Lopez said. “I could bring in fluff teams and we could win the tournament every year. But I’m not going to do that, because it’s not going to get us ready for what we want down the road. My whole goal is to get to Glens Falls. Playing schools like this that are strong, athletic, big, and well-coached, that gets us ready.”

The title game was all Elmont. With Williams leading the way, the Spartans jumped out to a quick 21-2 first quarter lead. Center Greg Senat added six points in the opening quarter. Elmont was impenetrable on the defensive end. Malverne struggled to get things going on offense as the Spartans seemingly gave the Mules a different look each time down the floor. 

Malverne didn’t convert a field goal until Alexander, who entered the game averaging 24.5 points per game, hit a lay up a minute into the second quarter. The Mules went on a brief 8-1 run late in the second quarter, but Elmont held a 35-16 lead as the teams went to the locker room. Malverne, which never challenged in the second half, got a strong effort from sophomore forward Andre Berry. 

The Mules advanced the finals with a 76-69 win over West Hempstead the previous night. Alexander scored 24 points and eight assists and Moultre scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the way. West Hempstead (4-3, 1-1 in Conference A-III) was paced by sophomore guard Tyree Glascoe’s 16 points. Senior Tom Valerio added 15 points, and Greg Cesere and Mike Mangino both scored 13 for the Rams.

In the consolation game, West Hempstead received a career-high 18 points from Glascoe as the Rams knocked off John Adams, 56-48. Darnell Davy, Cesere and Valerio all scored 10 points in the win. Glascoe added four assists and four steals.

West Hempstead coach Ed Cosgrove saw some bright spots in the tournament. “Tyree played very well, and got other people involved on the offensive end,” he said. “We need to take care of the ball and cut down on the turnovers. We’re still working on finding the right combinations. Mike Mangino did a real nice job on the inside for us.”

West Hempstead hosts a strong Manhasset team this Friday at 6:30 p.m., while Malverne is home against Carle Place at 6:45 p.m.