Buzzer-Beating Basket Costs Mules LI Championship

It was a heart-breaking finish to a spectacular season for Malverne High School's varsity boys basketball team Wednesday night as they watched the Long Island "Class B" Championship slip through their fingers.

The Mules were riding high going into the big game, having finished the season undefeated in their conference and walloped the Wheatley Wildcats to

Malverne dominated the Suffolk County champs, Mattituck, for the first three quarters of the game at SUNY Old Westbury, keeping the Tuckers at bay with strong play from guard Cory Alexander and the inside presence of centers Anthony Moultrie and Alton Kelly.

Still, Mattituck stormed back in the fourth quarter off of hot shooting from brothers Tom and Steve Ascher.

With Malverne up 67-65 with only five seconds of play remaining, the Mules fouled (Steve) Ascher as he was dribbling the ball up the sideline.

Ascher proceeded to make his first free throw and a timeout was called by the Mules to ice him at the line.

On Ascher's second free throw attempt the ball hit the back cylinder and fell into the hands of the Tuckers Yianni Rauseo. Rauseo threw up a layup that bounced off the backboard to the waiting fingers of Ascher, who tipped the ball through the hoop as time expired off the clock.

The Mattituck fans jumped and screamed with exhilaration, but it was a different scene on the Malverne bench.

The Mules looked stunned and shocked. After being up by double digits for most of the second half they let Mattituck back into the game and paid the ultimate price.

"We put them on the foul line late in the game and it cost us the game," said Assistant Coach Walt Askinoff. "It's been something I've been saying all season long. You can't put good teams at the foul line late in the game and expect to come out with a win."

The Tuckers hit 16 of 30 shots from the charity stripe, compared with 10 of 15 for Malverne.

But the real story was the Mules inability to score late in the game when it appeared they had an easy victory. They turned the ball over and made sloppy passes at crucial times late in the game.

Up 64-52 with five minutes left on the clock ,the Mules hit an untimely scoring drought. The Tuckers were able to take advantage going on a 9-point scoring run to cut the margin to three points.

The 6'7 Kelly broke the drought with 1:40 left in the game, getting a much needed putback inside.

Up 66-61 it looked as though the  Mules had survived the onslaught. 

But Mattituck stayed the course, fighting hard to the end and their late game persistence paid off.

"They played very hard right to the end and you have to give them credit," said Askinoff. "That tip in could have been after the buzzer, it was questionable. But the fact remains that we let them get back into the game."

In his last game in a Malverne uniform Cory Alexander led the Mules in scoring with 15 points. Junior Alton Kelly had 14 points. Forward Ronald Spencer did not play for unspecified reasons.

Check Patch later today for game photos.