Rejuvenated Malverne set for playoffs

What a turnaround.

Two years ago, the Malverne boys’ basketball team was in a rebuilding mode and suffered through a dismal 2-16 season. Now, the Mules are starting to see the fruits of their labor and poised for a county championship.

Malverne completed a 14-5 regular season, including 11-3 in Conference ABC, with a 65-27 triumph Feb. 8 over Wheatley, the team it will be facing in the first round of the playoffs this Sunday at Farmingdale State College at 1 p.m. The Mules swept both meetings with the Wildcats this season by an average of 34.5 points.

Malverne, which won eight games last season, began the campaign with a 4-1 mark before a 1-3 skid put it on the precipice of .500, including its worst loss of the season, 70-51, to Locust Valley on Jan. 9. But the Mules rebounded to rip off eight straight wins to put them near the top of the conference behind Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor. The team handed Oyster Bay one of its two losses this season on Jan 12.

“Our philosophy has always been to peak for the playoffs,” Malverne assistant coach Walter Aksionoff said. “As we get better, I think we’ll be stronger and I think we will show that in the playoffs.”

Aksionoff admitted that Locust Valley “beat us soundly” that night and said the team worked on different defensive schemes since that loss. The strategy paid off and the Mules got a measure of revenge against the Falcons by beating them 65-53 on Feb. 3.

“Our bread and butter is man-to-man, not full court baseline to baseline,” he explained. “So we said, ‘Let’s just play half court and we’ll try to double team the ball in the corners and, of course, work on all five players rebound when the other team shoots the ball.’ We worked on it in practice and, lo and behold, it panned out for us.”

Guard Michael James led the way offensively with a 14.8 scoring average, including five games of at least 20 points. Fellow senior Makhia Effs, last year’s scoring leader, battled a leg injury during the season, but still managed to average 11.6 points a game and junior Donovan Ishmael averaged double digits in rebounds.

Freshman point guard Michael Warren had a strong first full season with the varsity team by averaging almost eight points a game, including two 14-point efforts against Cold Spring Harbor and East Rockaway.

“I told him the other day, ‘You should be a minimum 12-point scorer without even blinking your eye,” Aksionoff said. “All you got to do is get one layup a quarter and, if you’re the point guard, and you’re a lefty, you should be able to get to the foul line 10 times a game.”

If everything works out right, Aksionoff thinks the Mules can go far in the playoffs. 

“I think we have a very good shot that we can win Nassau County,” he said. “I’m really leaning on the seniors to step up and get them motivated.”