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PW’s Xzavier Malone-Key gets to live the dream after surviving a nightmarish year

07/27/2021, 11:00am EDT
By Joseph Santoliquito

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquitio)
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Last November, Xzavier Malone-Key was watching his rock crumble, along with his world around it, and felt helpless. The 6-foot-4 Plymouth-Whitemarsh 2016 grad was stuck in the house by himself, as his mother Lisa Key lay in a hospital.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Malone-Key couldn’t even see her. All he knew was she dropped around 40 pounds and the doctors had no answers as to why. That’s when the shadows crept closer and closer, and there were more than a few times Malone-Key cried alone, wondering what was going to happen next to his mother. Complicating matters was Malone-Key being besieged by schools that wanted him, after he placed his name in the transfer portal out of Fairleigh Dickinson.


Xzavier Malone-Key and his mother, Lisa Key. (Photo courtesy Malone family)

Malone-Key always had a refuge: the basketball court. It was his sanctuary, where he could take a mental vacation and release his anger and frustration. What was a holiday season for everyone else was not so festive for Malone-Key.

Lisa arrived home in early December and a few weeks later, Malone-Key got to live a dream by committing to Oregon State as a graduate-transfer scholarship athlete for one more year of basketball with a Pac-12 school that made a surprising run in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, reaching the Elite Eight as a No. 12 seed.

Time and patience are often powerful allies.

Malone-Key’s fortitude was certainly tested.

“It’s one of the toughest years I ever went through in my life, dealing with my mom and everything she was going through, getting my work in and going to school online and still trying to graduate,” said Malone-Key, who received a communications degree from Fairleigh Dickinson this spring. “I do look back at those times and I could say that I’m proud of myself, because a lot of people would have quit.

“My mom is healthy now and I just got my degree in the mail on July 12. My mom sent me a picture when she got it with the caption, ‘It’s official.’ Graduating meant a lot to my mother and I’m working towards a masters in communication at Oregon State, with the option to always go back and finish it.”


Malone-Key averaged double figures as a sophomore and junior at Fairleigh Dickinson after transferring from Rider. (Photo courtesy FDU Athletics)

Malone-Key chose Oregon State on December 17. He said he received interest from between 12 to 15 schools, finally selecting the Beavers over Georgia, North Texas, Montana and Florida. He received tepid interest from La Salle and Delaware, but Malone-Key’s high priority was to get away and see things.

What was also enticing was Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle telling Malone-Key that he wasn’t being brought in to be a “role player.”

“We are thrilled to officially announce the addition of Xzavier to our program,” Tinkle said in a statement. “He brings a lot of experience and athleticism to our team and will help us on both ends of the court. He's a very good ball handler, has a knack of getting to the rim and is a tremendous finisher. He is the final piece of this class that we are all very excited about.”

“I felt a genuine connection with coach Tinkle,” said Malone-Key, who turned 23 on May 3. “He kept telling me that they weren’t bringing in a grad transfer to be a role player and that’s how our conversations went. They wanted a leader for the younger guys and this is finally the opportunity that I’ve been waiting for.”

Malone-Key, a 6-4 guard, took last season off after starting 26 games for Fairleigh Dickinson in 2019-20, averaging 12.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists, while shooting 48.1 percent from the field. He scored a career-high 29 points in a win over Quinnipiac. In 2018-19, he started 29 games and averaged 11.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists.

“Coach Tinkle told me everyone will have a chance to start, but I’m going to work for everything,” Malone-Key said. “I know for a fact that I’ll get the chance to play key minutes, whether that means starting or being the sixth man. I’m the only graduate transfer on the team and it really is gravy time for me.

“I have my degree. I can have fun with this. I have things to fall back on. I definitely feel there is less pressure, because I do have my degree and I can play more freely. Around this time next year, I’ll be signing my first professional contract, whether that is in Europe or the G League, or, God willing, the NBA.”

When Malone-Key graduated Plymouth-Whitemarsh, he said he was 6-2, and a skin-and-bones 165 pounds. Malone-Key scored 25 his senior year against Roman Catholic. Oregon State measured his wingspan at 6-foot-10.

As a senior at Plymouth-Whitemarsh in 2015-16, Malone was a talented scorer but hadn't yet grown into his current frame. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

~~~

As his high school career was winding down, Temple, Rhode Island, Drexel, North Texas and Rider, where Malone-Key initially attended before transferring to Farileigh Dickinson, were talking to him. He harbored the visions of playing for a major Power 5 program. But despite being an athletic guard, a good breeze and a subtle hand check from a D-I junior was good enough to blow him over.

This is Malone-Key’s basketball rebirth.

“It is,” he admitted. “I did have to go through a lot of dark nights, thinking about my mom and not knowing where I was going to go. When you have a dream, and to me, I’ve always been a very confident guy and when you speak things into existence, they happen. You do the right things and pray to God and good things will happen.

“I wore No. 5 at PW, I got 5 at Farleigh Dickinson and they’re allowing me to wear 5 here at Oregon State. I’m a lot bigger, stronger and faster than I was in high school. I have my man strength and do things on the court that I wasn’t able to do before. My goal is to work hard and prove myself every day.”

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.


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