Baldwin off to impressive start

Baldwin boys’ basketball is strong out of the gate in its quest for a third straight county title despite lacking experience entering the season. 
The Bruins, who returned only two players that received regular minutes last season,  won their first six games out of the gate and entered the week at 7-1 with its lone loss coming to Catholic school power Monsignor Scanlan in the Bronx.
Longtime Baldwin head coach Darius Burton said the team has plenty of room for improvement, but has been sharply focused on maintaining the program’s winning culture.
“Our goal every year is to win a championship, but I know I have to be patient since we have a very young team without a lot of experience,” said Burton, who entered the season 16 wins shy of 400 in his Baldwin career. “The team is getting better and better every day.”
Freshman point guard Peyton Howell was the lone returning full-time starter from last season’s 21-3 team that defeated Port Washington in the Nassau County Class AA championship before falling to Brentwood in the Long Island finals. Howell, who led the backcourt as just an eighth grader last year, shined in Baldwin’s 50-36 win at Uniondale on Dec. 9 with 14 points, five assists and seven steals.

“He’s holding his own once again and is very poised,” Burton said of Howell. “He is doing a great job thus far being the quarterback of the team.”
Junior guard Chase Timberlake is taking on a bigger role this season after playing much of his sophomore season as the first player off the bench before starting late in the season including the playoff run. Timberlake produced a career high 37 points in Baldwin’s season-opening 66-53 win at Suffolk County power Half Hollow Hills East on Dec. 2.
Sophomore 6-foot-4 forward Gabe Phillips, a transfer from Chaminade, has also stepped into a  starting role and has produced double-digit rebounds in more than half of the games so far. He produced 17 points and 14 rebounds in a 50-47 win against Elmont in the final of the Chanee Brown Christmas Tournament to earn the event’s MVP honors.
Baldwin rebounded from its lone loss at Monsignor Scanlan with a commanding 56-33 home victory against Farmingdale last Friday in which the Bruins led 26-12 at halftime. Timberlake recorded 23 points including a career high six three-pointers to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Phillips also had a big game on the boards with 10 rebounds.
The Bruins will hit the road for three of four league games starting Thursday at Westbury before visiting Port Washington Wednesday in a championship rematch Baldwin’s next home game is slated for Jan. 20 at 4 p.m. versus Plainview- JFK.
Burton said he expects Baldwin to be in the mix to win a challenging Conference AAA II if the team executes on fundamentals.
“We’re going to have to continue to play Baldwin Bruins basketball which means we have to rebound and defend like we are capable of and execute the game plan night in and night out,” he said.