By Rich Forestano
Baldwin, coming off a victory over Port Washington, beat Uniondale 50-46 to capture the Nassau County Section VIII Class AA Championship; its first title since 1982.
The Bruins (18-3) will face Half Hollow Hills West this coming Saturday in the Long Island Class AA Championship at SUNY Old Westbury.
Baldwin beat Uniondale back in January 69-68, and knew it wasn’t going to be any easier the second time around.
“They came to play,” Baldwin head coach Darius Burton said while wiping his brow. “It was nerve-wracking. We acted as though we didn’t want to win, missing all those free throws.”
Jeff Thomas scored from the baseline with 3:30 to go in the second quarter to bring Baldwin within two, and a three-pointer from the wing by Bernard Desilus tied it at 20 at the 2:20 mark. Both teams hit free throws in the waning minutes of the second quarter and Uniondale went into the locker room leading 23-21.
“At that point, I felt that even though it’s early, we have the momentum going into the third and have them on their toes,” Uniondale guard Justin Brown said. “I didn’t think that we could lose to them again.”
Toward the end of the third quarter, Bruin guard Chris Mauldin hit a three-pointer with two seconds to play to bring the Bruins within one, 36-35. Mauldin finished with 11 points on the night.
“It was the best shot I made all night,” Mauldin said.
Uniondale had the lead most of the way, but Baldwin battled its way back into the game with six minutes to play.
Bruin guard Chris Mauldin hit another three-pointer with 6:35 left to play and brought blue and gold within one point again.
“I just knew that we were going to get it [the lead],” Mauldin said. “I could see that they were tired and the crowd was favoring us.”
Caliup Norris, who finished with eight points, hit a game-changing mid-range jump-shot over Uniondale guard Justin Brown to give the Bruins a 39-38 lead with 5:57 left to play.
“We were playing bad free throws-wise most of the game,” Norris, the senior forward said. “But we pushed on and when I made that shot and heard the crowd scream, I was freaking out.”
The Knights came close on several occasions during the next possession; most notably Justin Brown’s lay-up attempt with 5:42 to play, only to be denied by a Chris Mauldin block that saved the Bruins two points.
“It wasn’t a normal block,” Burton said. “That was a mammoth block.”
The Bruins never lost the lead after that shot. From there, a plethora of Uniondale fouls resulted in several opportunities for Baldwin to extend its lead.
But Bruin’s Chris Mauldin, Nick Thomas and Chris Manning missed six of their 11 total shots from the line. This left the door open for the Knights to capitalize.
James Ockimey, attempting to avoid a travel violation, threw up a football type shot on one foot while being pressured by Manning, and sunk a three-pointer to bring Uniondale within one, 43-42.
“When that happened I thought maybe a little luck was going to come our way,” Ockimey said. “I guess I was wrong.”
Uniondale’s Justin Brown hoisted up an air ball with nine seconds left. Though Manning missed his first free throw with 6.3 seconds to go and his team up 49-46, the Baldwin guard sensed his team would win the game anyway.
“I knew it was still over,” Manning said while embracing his championship plaque, who finished with three points.
“We knew it’d be a war,” head coach Tom Diana said. “We got into foul trouble late in the game and didn’t take advantage of their free throw misses.”