Baldwin high school squeaked out a 61-60 victory in their Class AA championship match against Uniondale high school Sunday night at Nassau Coliseum.
Baldwin came out the gates fast and went up 4-0 over Uniondale before two minutes went by on the clock. They looked like the faster and more agile team running down the floor and finishing plays at the rim. Later in the first quarter, the momentum shifted, as Uniondale now began to get physical with Baldwin and get offensive rebounds to score and take a 9-6 lead with a little under four minutes left in the fist stanza. Uniondale would lead after the first quarter 15-12 over Baldwin.
In the second quarter more of the same would happen, with both teams trying to muscle the ball inside due to their outside shooting being poor in this game. Neither team would hit a shot from three-point range in the first half of play. It was a sloppy fist half with both teams struggling to gain separation, but Uniondale would head into the intermission leading 31-26.
In the third quarter Jayden McKenzie would try to put his team on his back, as he scored eight of the team’s 19 points in the quarter, and was their floor general. Baldwin would only score 14 points in the quarter which would bring both teams to an even 45 points heading into the fourth period.
“ I told them we got eight minutes, we got to find a way in which we always have,” said head coach of Baldwin Darius Burton. “ We had a couple stops we made a couple of big shots, couple steals and we opened up a bit and I think it helped us.”
In the fourth quarter Uniondale would lead for the duration, but then at the 5:16 mark Baldwin would take the lead of big plays by McKenzie who ended the game with 22 points. Once Baldwin took the lead they would hold onto it until the end of the game where there were several game delays based on judgement calls that could have went foe either school. The crowd was filled with cheer as Baldwin players stormed the court as the buzzer sounded which signified they were the Class AA champs for this season.
“ It was a hard-fought game by both teams… we were fortunate we executed down the stretch which we have done all season long in the fourth quarter with that refuse to lose mentality,” Burton said.
McKenzie was the only player for Baldwin in double-figures with the next highest player in Kamani Jones scoring nine points. Jo-Jo- White and Jayden Freeman both led Uniondale with 14 points for their team respectively.
Baldwin will now face off against Brentwood high school next Sunday at Farmingdale State College in the regional Championship game. “ We got a little revenge [out] for Brentwood. They gave it to us the first game, I told them will see them again, we won the county championship and guess what, we will see Brentwood again,” Burton said.
