Baldwin's depth fuels comeback

Along with its tenacious defense and balanced offense, depth has been just as big a reason for Baldwin’s dominance of the Nassau Class AA boys’ basketball scene under head coach Darius Burton.

The Bruins, riding back-to-back county championships and with three titles in six years, showed their unmatched depth again on Jan. 7, rallying from a 16-point deficit in the third quarter to beat visiting Valley Stream Central, 68-65, in a fast-paced Conference AA-II matchup.

Sophomore Shane Gatling came off the bench and scored all 15 of his points in the second half, including the game-tying three-pointer and the winning layup in the final minute, to lift Baldwin (7-1) to its fourth straight conference win out of the gate. Gatling’s breakaway layup off a steal and assist from junior Paul Nosworthy (17 points, 12 rebounds) with 40 seconds remaining capped the huge comeback.

“Shane’s our only sophomore, and someone who’s still getting used to the system,” Burton said of Gatling, who tied the game at 64 with an NBA-range three-pointer with 57 seconds to go. “He’s played well all season and had a lights-out game tonight,” Burton added. “He hit some big shots down the stretch.”

Senior Miking Richardson added 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Bruins, who trailed 41-25 with 4:34 remaining in the third quarter when Burton called timeout and inserted Gatling and junior Marvin Chartelain, who scored all seven of his points in the second half. 

“Not to take anything away from Central, because they played a great game and really punched us in the mouth, but for whatever reason, we’ve had some slow starts,” Burton said. “I’m still trying to figure our team out. We’re very talented. We have to realize we’re going to get everyone else’s A game. We’re the hunted.”

Central (1-5) rode the hot hand of junior Winston Jones, who scored a game-high 26 points, and also got solid offensive contributions from seniors Andre Garroway (11 points) and Brandon Richburg (10). But head coach Hayward Alfred said that Baldwin’s ability to win battles in the paint was the difference.

“It’s disappointing we couldn’t finish, but I’m really proud of our effort,” Alfred said. “This is a tough gym to win in. Darius does a tremendous job and they keep coming at you. I thought we followed our game plan and got out on their shooters. But we allowed them too many offensive rebounds in the second half.”

All five Eagles starters hit shots in the opening quarter as they scored 20 points against a traditionally strong Baldwin defense and led by five. Senior Kevin Blocker scored six of his nine points in the second as the advantage swelled to 33-22 by halftime, and Jones went wild in the third quarter, scoring 16 of Central’s 18 points to keep the lead in double digits, 51-40.

The Bruins slowly chipped away at the margin in the fourth and went into overdrive just in time.

“It’s a good win,” Burton said, “but we can’t think we can turn it on and off every time if we’re going to meet our goals and expectations.”