In an annual tradition at Westbury High School, the 29th anniversary of the Reid-Robeson Classic was held at the Martin S. Reid gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 7. The school’s boys JV and girls and boys varsity basketball teams played in three different games to honor the late, great boys varsity coach, Martin “Bunky” Reid, who passed away in 1993 and Civil Rights activist Paul Robeson.
“We hold this event the first Saturday in February to honor former Westbury player, teacher, administrator and boys basketball coach, Martin Reid,” said Westbury’s Athletic Director Doric Capsis. “We also commemorate Black History Month by honoring Paul Robeson who was an outstanding student and athlete. Robeson was the first African American to receive an athletic scholarship to Rutgers University.”
The Westbury boys basketball team showed why they are 8-2 in conference AA3 and 13-3 overall when they faced off against Mepham High School. The Green Dragons dominated the Pirates from start to finish, never letting up en route to a commanding 81-49 victory over their conference foe.
The team used their explosive speed and agility to trap the Pirates in the backcourt and had multiple turnovers which led to points at the other end.
Senior forward Malachi Dean used his strength and quickness inside the paint to collect double figure rebounds and score multiple buckets and his brother, sophomore Johnathan Dean, had a superb shooting touch from the outside. Senior, Jerome Cunningham was also a force in the game. The 6’4” forward got the ball rolling for Westbury after stealing the ball from a Mepham player in the first quarter and throwing it down for a monstrous dunk at the other end.
After a tight early start to the game, the Green Dragons jumped out to a 23-13 lead midway through the first quarter and the Pirates were never able to come within single digits after that.
The team’s full court press stifled the Mepham offense in the first half and Dean brothers were just too much for them to handle on the offensive side of the floor.
The second half was more of the same, as Westbury proved to be a far superior opponent, taking the ball away from the Pirates on multiple occasions and getting inside for easy layups.
A 37-23 halftime lead quickly became a 60-31 third quarter blowout and there was nothing left to see after that. The Green Dragons tacked on an additional 21 points in the fourth quarter to solidify the game in the 81-49 victory.
“I think we’ve played very well this season, losing only to Elmont, who is a very formidable squad in our conference,” said head coach Dave Graff. “We are looking to finish second in our conference behind Elmont and get into the playoffs and advance.”
