Uniondale boys basketball’s Dion Morris does it all, while playing with a heavy heart

Doing the glamorous thing on a basketball court, like being a starter and scoring points, is not of any concern to Dion Morris. He has something more important in mind: make Mom proud.

Morris’ mother, Tania Alford-Morris, died suddenly at 46 on Dec. 8 from blood clots. Dion, a guard for the Uniondale boys basketball team, took several weeks away from the team to grieve. He recently returned to the court with a broader focus, and some extra motivation.

That motivation was on full display Friday night in Uniondale when he did a little bit of everything off the bench to help propel the Knights to a 65-27 win over Hicksville in Nassau League I play.

While playing with an angel on his shoulder, Morris spent his minutes playing how his mother would have wanted him to — fast and physical. Morris totaled eight points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals for Uniondale (6-5), which won its second straight game.

“I just try to play as hard as I can because I know she’s going to be proud of me,” Morris said. “I’m just trying to do the best I can for my life and my family and do what I’ve got to. So I just played hard and aggressively to go out there and get the win.”

With Uniondale trailing 10-6 halfway through the first quarter, Morris made a fast-break layup. Two possessions later, he forced a steal and delivered a pass to freshman guard Morell Toney, who tied it.

With less than 30 seconds left in the opening quarter, Morris filled his lane properly on another fast break and made a layup to tie it at 14.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Morris found sophomore guard Dylan Hickman, who hit a deep three-pointer from the right wing to ignite the home crowd.

Morris came right back with a steal and a dish to Toney, who set up Hickman with a catch-and-shoot three-pointer from the left wing. After forcing another stop, Morris assisted on another deep three by Hickman to give Uniondale a 26-17 lead just two minutes into the quarter.

Morris’ aggression and Hickman’s floor-spacing sparked a 39-6 run between the second and third quarters. Hickman finished with 12 points, three rebounds and two steals.

“I knew we needed to get back into the flow, so those three three-pointers really helped our energy,” Hickman said. “It was just my teammates finding me and trusting me.”

Freshmen forward Jayden Oden had eight points, 14 rebounds (nine offensive, five defensive), one steal and one block, and fellow classmate Jayden Barrows added 11 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.