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Partly Cloudy Baldwin takes tournament title
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Baldwin senior guard Dominique Aberdeen totaled 28 points in tournament victories over Lawrence and John Adams and earned MVP honors.
Jeff Wilson/Herald
Backed by senior Dominique Aberdeen’s Most Valuable Player effort, Baldwin swept its way to a pair of victories over John Adams (51-35) and Lawrence (83-53) in its annual Chanee Brown Memorial Christmas Tournament last week.
The Bruins (4-2 overall, 0-2 Conference AA-I) rode a suffocating defense to the double-digit victories, converting plenty of turnovers into points. Coach Darius Burton, long known to utilize a deep rotation in order to keep the defensive pressure on, has opened the 2009-10 campaign with as many as 10 players seeing action regularly.
“It’s been a total team effort,” Burton said. “It starts with the press and rotating [over] and getting back into halfcourt [defense].”
Baldwin outscored the Golden Tornadoes, 46-15, in the first half of the first round game on Dec. 29 and limited Adams to just 15 in the second half of the finals the following night. “Offensively the shots weren’t falling [against John Adams] but there’s going to be games like that,” Burton said, noting the importance of playing a full 32 minutes of defense each game.
Aberdeen capped his MVP effort with 15 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and four steals against John Adams and has already combined with senior guard Ashanti DePass for more than 20 three-pointers in just six games. DePass led the way against Lawrence with 15 points. “One thing he can do is score,” Burton said of Aberdeen. “He can get to the rim and shoot the three.”
In addition to the strong defensive play during the two-day tournament, Baldwin also benefitted from the return of senior point guard Donte Howell, who had missed three games due to injury. He dished out eight assists in just eight minutes of action against the Golden Tornadoes and followed it up with eight points and five assists in the championship game.
In Howell’s absence, the Bruins dropped their first two league games to Hempstead (62-55) and at Uniondale (67-64) though they were within a single basket in the last two minutes of each. Against the Knights in particular, Baldwin showed its mettle, cutting an 18-point third quarter deficit to just one in the final minute. Junior Aaron Greene, normally a shooting guard, ran the point along with help from sophomore Brandon Williams and totaled 15 points against Uniondale.
Baldwin looks to jump back into the thick of the Conference AA-I race this Friday at Farmingdale with tipoff scheduled for 4:30 p.m., then hosts Carey on Monday at 7 p.m. As always, a defense that never rests will be the key to victory.
“We’ve picked up the intensity on the defensive end,” Burton said. “All six teams we’ve played have had trouble with the press. We’re getting turnovers and steals and [teams are] rushing shots and it’s organized chaos.”
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