Malverne Basketball Coach Scores Coveted Award

"Winning."

It's something that Malverne High School has come to expect of its varsity boys basketball team, which Nassau County conference title this past season.

Their coach, Darrol Lopez, also had his own back-to-back victory, taking home the Conference B-C Coach of the Year award last month.

At a ceremony held at the Marriott Hotel in Uniondale on March 16, the Nassau County Boy's Coaches Basketball Association bestowed the honor on Lopez for the second year in a row.

"We take a lot of pride in our basketball team here at Malverne," Lopez later told Patch. "The kids all work very hard, taking the time to come to practice and giving it their all at the games. Perserverance is what wins championships."

The Mules have been dominant on the court under Lopez winning a State championship, six consecutive Nassau Class B boys basketball crowns and four straight Long Island titles.  this season by one basket to Suffolk County winner, Mattituck.

Lopez says the teams he has led so far would not have been as successful without the  help of his fellow coaches, Associate Head Coach Walter Askinoff and Academic Coach Allen Lewis.

"Coach Askinoff and Coach Lewis play a big role on this team," he said. "I don't know where I would be without them. They are so instrumental in leading our players on the court as well as in the classroom."

One of those players, senior shooting guard Xavier Bernard says his coach was a shoo-in for the award.

"If you'd ask him, he'd tell you he couldn't have won this without his players or surrounding coaching staff," said Bernard. "That's just the kind of person Coach is. He's open-minded and very unselfish. He's also a great coach who knows a lot about the game of basketball."

Bernard was honored with an all-conference player of the year award along with senior Ronald Spencer and sophomore Andre Berry. Seniors Cory Alexander and Anthony Moultrie earned All-County plaques.

"It speaks volumes about our team as a unit," said Bernard. "With our coaching staff and some really good individual players we made up a great team."