It's an unusual time of year to think high school basketball, but a special event is brewing in Malverne. Many thanks to Richard L. Brown of Zebulon Marketing for the heads up.

Boston College men's basketball coach Al Skinner, a 1970 Malverne graduate, and SUNY-Old Westbury coach Bernard Tomlin headline a list of former Malverne hoop stars who will play in an alumni basketball game at the school on Friday at 7 p.m.

The nonprofit Malverne Educational & Fitness Foundation is hosting the game. Tickets are $10 for adults. An added bonus: Maurette Brown-Clark, Malverne alum and gospel’s newly crowned “Princess of Praise & Worship”, will perform her first single, “One God”, from her highly anticipated third CD, The Dream.

Another nice touch: Malverne standout and former NFL running back Wandy Williams will be on the sidelines coaching. He's the brother of Mules legendary coach Hank Williams and a pretty successful high school coach in his own right.

Sounds like a fun night to me.

Posted by Jason Molinet at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Malverne coach Darrol Lopez got his wish. The boys basketball team will play a Class A schedule next season. Lopez has long complained about the competitive imbalance in Nassau's Conference B/C. It wasn't a healthy situation for any of the teams involved to have Malverne winning by 30 points every night out.

And Lopez, whose team won the state Federation Class B title this season, admitted it was tough to get his players motivated for every game. Not any more.

Coordinator Saul Lerner got the aproval to bump Malverne into the Class A ranks during the regular season. It will give the other Class B and C schools a chance to flourish and present the Mules with more challenging matchups. It's a win-win situation.

Posted by Jason Molinet at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

PICTURED: Copiague coach Steve Rebholz was a former player.

This trip to the state Final Four is mighty special for three boys basketball coaches. You see, Greenport's Al Edwards, Malverne's Darrol Lopez and Copiague's Steve Rebholz are more than the masterminds behind terrific seasons. They are former players for their respective programs.

Edwards was a 2,000-point scorer in the 1970s. Sophomore Ryan Creighton might be Greenport's next 2,000-point scorer. Lopez learned life lessons from former coach Hank Williams. Now he's giving out those same lessons to the next generation at Malverne. Rebholz considers himself the caretaker of a program that's produced some serious talent over the years. But under his leadership, Copiague has reached new heights.

You know this trio will enjoy the Glens Falls experience. For them this journey was a lifetime in the making.

Posted by Jason Molinet at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's not that Malverne isn't good. I just didn't expect the Mules to knock off Wyandanch in the Long Island Class B title game.

The teams squared off a year ago and Wyandanch won. In the time since, Wyandanch added Cameron Barber while Malverne graduated Julian Hayes. Advantage Wyandanch. And while Malverne was forced to play a schedule full of cream puffs, Wyandanch got the added benefit of the Suffolk Overall Tournament to play some serious competition.

After knocking off Suffolk Class A champ Kings Park and then Suffolk Class AA winner Copiague, I moved Wyandanch to No. 2 this week in my Long Island boys basketball poll. Between reigning Suffolk player of the year Chris Barber and his versatile younger brother, the Warriors seemed like a lock to return to the state Final Four.

Boy was I wrong. Malverne jumped on the Warriors early and never let up. Kudos to Greg Lott, Craig Wilson and coach Darrol Lopez. You made amends for last season's huccup and you did it in grand fashion. You beat the hottest public school team on Long Island.

Posted by Jason Molinet at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)