Malone captures championship

POTSDAM — Mitch Gallagher’s future may be in the sport of football, but his present belongs to basketball.

On Monday night at SUNY Potsdam’s Maxcy Hall, the junior forward presented Malone with its first Class A championship since 2006, tallying a season-high 31 points and 18 rebounds and seven blocked shots in powering the Huskies to a 78-59 victory over five-time defending champion Massena.

The Times All North MVP in football this past fall was held to single-digit scoring in two close, regular-season losses to Massena this year, but dominated in the low post Monday night against the taller Raider forwards.

“I think we were more team-oriented tonight than the first two times we played them. My teammates really helped me out tonight,” Gallagher said. “Everyone played even harder than usual and we’ve been looking to go to states for a while.”

Gallagher scored 15 first-half points as the Huskies took a 37-23 intermission lead.

“That’s Mitch all year long. He works his tail off and ends up getting a lot of put-back points,” said Malone coach Tim Lamay, whose team was playing without second-leading scorer Austin Dunlavey who had been removed from the team for disciplinary reasons. “We were a lot more efficient on offense than when we played them during the regular season. And when you shoot 60 percent in the first half, it certainly makes your offense that much better.”

Malone (11-8 overall) will host the first round of the Class A state tournament on Wednesday, March 7 at Maxcy Hall.

Massena (14-5) could only manage 30 percent shooting from the field in the first half, but the Raiders were kept in the game by Troy Myers who scored nine of his team-high 18 points before intermission.

The Raiders crept to within eight points on several occasions in the second half, but each time Massena would cut into the Malone lead, the Huskies had an answer.

Jon Dunlavey finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds and five assists for Malone, and speedy Harvey Smith broke free for 15 points. Bruce Monette added 10 points for the Huskies who out-rebounded the Raiders 45-23.

For Massena, which shot just 32 percent for the game to 53 percent by the Huskies, George Sloan came off the bench to score 11 points. Josh Miller tallied eight points, five rebounds and five assists. Zach Hopps added seven points.

“I’m not sure what sport I’ll end up in. It’ll be whatever works out best,” said Gallagher of his options for college. “But for right now we’re going to states and that’s what everybody here has been working for.”

For Malone, it’s about time.

Said Lamay: “we’ve been knocking on the door the past few years and we finally got over the hump. They put in a full game tonight.”