Baldwin beats Uniondale for county title

Baldwin’s Paul Nosworthy carried the disappointment of falling short of county championships on the hardwood and the gridiron into last Saturday’s Nassau Class AA boys’ basketball title game, and after Uniondale cut an 11-point third-quarter deficit to one early in the fourth, the 6-foot-4 senior center put the Bruins on his back.

Nosworthy scored 8 of his 12 points in the final six minutes and pulled down 10 rebounds to help top-seeded Baldwin hold off the Knights, 53-45, before a crowd of 3,500 at Hofstra. It was the third county championship in four years for the Bruins, who got a game-high 19 points from senior Daraja Rodwell, and 8 points and 6 rebounds from junior Shane Gatling.

“I knew I had to be aggressive and take the ball to the basket,” Nosworthy said. “I wanted to win a championship badly. This means a lot to me after we lost in the finals in football and in last year’s basketball semifinals.”

Baldwin (19-1) will try to capture its first Long Island title since the 2011-12 campaign this Saturday when it faces Brentwood (22-1) at Farmingdale State College at 5 p.m. The Indians handed the Bruins their only loss, 73-61, in the Nassau-Suffolk Challenge on Jan. 17.

“This one is special,” Baldwin head coach Darius Burton said. “The way last season ended really hurt. Everyone had confidence that we’d get back to the finals and get it done, but we knew it wouldn’t come easy.

“Now we have a chance to avenge our only loss,” he added. “Brentwood is a great team. We played them even for three quarters, but they had a big fourth. It’s not like we have to beat them four times in a series. We only have to beat them once.”

Rodwell, one of four Bruins to score in double figures against Brentwood, was the story in the first half against third-seeded Uniondale. He had 13 of Baldwin’s first 15 points, including one of his 70 3-pointers on the season, and the Bruins led 27-21 at halftime. “I knew Daraja had it in him,” Gatling said.

The Knights were on the ropes midway through the third quarter after Gatling’s 3-pointer gave the Bruins a 37-26 advantage. But Uniondale turned up the pressure on defense, and Shomari Redd led a spirited rally, capped by a Taleek Butler (15 points) trey that brought the Knights within 39-38 with 6:18 remaining.

That’s when Nosworthy went into overdrive. He scored on consecutive possessions and forced a turnover that led to senior Paul Colson’s layup and a 45-38 cushion. After Uniondale closed within 3, Nosworthy converted a shot in the lane to make it 47-42. Three Redd free throws cut the margin back to 2, but Nosworthy answered with a smooth baseline jumper that proved the dagger with 1:18 to go.

“Paul texted me and a bunch of his teammates last night that he was going to help us win a championship,” Burton, who picked up his 250th career coaching victory, said of Nosworthy. “It’s been on his mind a long time. I reminded him of that during a timeout in the fourth quarter, and he said, ‘Don’t worry, Coach, I’ve got your back.’”