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Light Rain Malone Mulhall benefit scores big
Second annual basketball benefit game to honor ANCHOR workers killed
Basketball generally gets put on the backburner during the summer months, but hoops took center stage July 28 at the Center for Recreation and Sports on the campus of Adelphi University, the site of this year’s Malone Mulhall Benefit Game.
The event, in its second year, is held in honor of Jamie and Paige Malone, and Michael Mulhall. On July 15, 2010, the three friends from Floral Park were killed when their vehicle veered off the Meadowbrook Parkway and hit a tree. They were on their way to work at Camp ANCHOR. Camp ANCHOR is a year-round recreation program that is dedicated to both children and adults with special needs residing in the Town of Hempstead.
For Jim Malone, the father of Jamie and Paige, and long-time basketball coach at Beach Channel High School, the day is bittersweet.
“It’s great for Long Island to have this caliber of basketball talent together in the middle of the summer when basketball is sort of forgotten,” Malone said. “These are tough days for me. After being away from it, isolated a bit, when I come to events like these it hits me in the face initially. But then you remember it’s all about remembering the kids. There’s nothing better than seeing all their friends together. ANCHOR was a big part of their lives.”
Despite it being July, the players were in mid-season form. The rosters were composed of the likes of San Antonio Spurs guard Danny Green, Paris Horne and Justin Burrell (St. John’s University), Vernon Goodridge (LaSalle University), Jeff Xavier (Providence College), Tyrone Nash (Notre Dame), and many other outstanding collegiate and professional players from the New York metropolitan area.
Burrell, a 6-foot-9 power forward who recently played with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Summer League, scored 25 points and pulled down five rebounds to lead the Red Team to a 116-104 victory. Horne, who played for the Charlotte Bobcats over the summer, added 20 points.
