Baldwin Stops Great Neck South 56-45
To Advance to the Nassau County AA finals
By Dave Graff
Top seeded and undefeated Great Neck South (21-0), ranked #3 by the NY State Basketball Writers poll in class AA, faced 5th seeded Baldwin (winners of 4 straight AAA county titles) for the third time this season. In their first meeting at GNS the Rebels won 73-67 in double OT. In the 2nd meeting at Baldwin, GNS won again in a 54-51 nail biter, but beating the Bruins for a third time this season, and in a semi-final playoff game, would be a difficult task. Baldwin showed its championship pedigree, ending Great Neck's 21 game winning streak with a big inside game from Gabriel Phillips and timely scoring from sophomore Mical Saint Jean, while their renowned defense held the high scoring Rebels 21 points below their season average. With the win, the Bruins advance to the Nassau County/Section 8 Class AA Final. The game was played at Farmingdale State in front of a vocal crowd.
GNS raced out to a 13-4 lead behind six points from Edwin Serpas. Chase Timberlake, Baldwin’s best player, picked up his second foul at the 2:51 mark and went to the bench. The Bruins looked vulnerable, but switched to a box and one on Jesse Roggendorf and finished the quarter on a 7-2 run. Mical Saint Jean (in a sign of things to come) hit a three right before the buzzer and Baldwin trailed 15-11 after one.
Two minutes into the second quarter Jesse Roggendorf injured a finger on his shooting hand, spent several minutes on the bench and Baldwin’s defense began to assert itself. Chase Timberlake returned for the Bruins hitting a jumper and a layup, Gabriel Phillips controlled the paint, hit a jumper and scored on the break giving Baldwin its first lead at 21-20. Jason Bacon hit a 3 at the buzzer and the Bruins led at halftime 24-20. Baldwin outscored GNS 13-5 in the second quarter.
In the third quarter Baldwin forced turnovers, double teamed Jesse Roggendorf, and got hot 3-point shooting from Mical Saint Jean. The sophomore guard nailed 4 three-point shots, the last one giving the Bruins a 14 point lead at 45-31. Saint Jean and Chase Timberlake scored 18 of Baldwin’s 21 points in the 3rd quarter and the Bruins outscored GNS 21-13. Conrad Xu hit a jumper for GNS right before the buzzer and the third quarter ended with the Rebels trailing by 12 at 45-33.
GNS picked up their defense in the fourth quarter. Jesse Roggendorf got a steal for a layup and hit a three-pointer cutting the lead to seven. Baldwin’s coach Darius Burton was hit with a technical foul and Jesse Roggendorf converted both FT’s cutting the lead to 5 at 45-40 with 5 minutes left to play. The Bruins seemed to rally around their coach, closing out the game on an 11-5 run. Isaiah Lett hit 2 huge buckets for Baldwin when the game was still in doubt, scoring underneath and hitting a three to give the Bruins an 11 point lead at 53-42. GNS pressed until the end but the Bruins were too quick. The final score was Baldwin 56 GNS 45 and a great season by the Rebels was over.
Mical Saint Jean led Baldwin with 17 pts (5 threes), Gabriel Phillips had 13 pts. 12 rebounds and 2 blocked shots, and Chase Timberlake scored10 pts. Jesse Roggendorf scored 23 pts for GNS.
Baldwin will attempt to win its 5th straight county championship when they face defending New York State Champion Elmont in the Nassau County AA finals this Saturday, March 8th at 6pm at Farmingdale State.
