Baldwin rally falls short

Add another chapter to the greatest sports rivalry going in Nassau.

For a third consecutive season, the Class AA championship game between Uniondale and Baldwin wasn’t decided until the final possession.

The top-seeded Knights, who led by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter, held off the No. 2 Bruins, 64-61, before a crowd of 3,500 on Saturday night, to repeat as champs. Baldwin’s Ashanti DePass (19 points) came within inches of forcing overtime, but the senior guard's three-point shot at the buzzer caromed off the back of the rim.

Shaquille Mosely had 19 points to lead Uniondale, which hit its last nine free throws and went 11-for-14 from the line in the fourth quarter. Bolade Akingboye added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Knights (17-3), who meet Half Hollow Hills West in the Long Island Class AA championship game next Saturday at Hofstra at 4:30 p.m.

“We had poor starts in the first and third quarters and only played with enough intensity when we were down,” Baldwin coach Darius Burton said. “More often than not, you’re not going to win a game like this if you’re not consistent.”

The teams split games during the regular season. Uniondale won last year's county crown, 53-52, on Devon McMillan’s desperation three-pointer at the buzzer, while Baldwin took home the 2007-08 season title, 50-46.

"Baldwin-Uniondale is as big a rivalry as it gets," Knights coach Tom Diana said. "It always comes down to the end. If anyone would've won by double digits, I would've been shocked." 

Senior guards Dominique Aberdeen and Donte Howell added 14 points apiece for the Bruins (17-3), who came into the game winners of 15 straight. Junior forward Eyituoyo Ofuyo had eight points.

"They got too many second and third opportunities and too many points in transition," Burton said. "Against a great team like this, you've got to hold them to one shot as much as possible."

Howell's two free throws with 4:06 remaining jump-started Baldwin's late push after it trailed 53-41. DePass, held in check for three-and-a-half quarters, was outstanding in crunch time and scored 12 of the team's final 16 points, including a three-pointer with 1:07 remaining that brought the Bruins' side of the house down, cutting Uniondale's lead to 58-55.

Down five, a basket by Howell and a pair of DePass free throws got the Bruins within 62-61 with 10 seconds left. After Uniondale's Goey Charles cooly sank a pair from the foul line with 8.7 to go, DePass took the inbound pass and dribbled up the floor. He released a contested shot from just behind the arc that had overtime written all over it, but it clipped the back of the rim.  

"We're clearly disappointed," Burton said. "But we've got nothing to hang our heads about. This was our fourth straight season in the finals and we'll look to get back here next year and try to win it."