Rodwell caps impressive year with hardware

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The Baldwin High School basketball program has been dominant in Nassau County for years. Both the girls’ and boys’ team captured county titles again this season in impressive fashion, but senior Daraja Rodwell, a first-year starter brought home a piece of hardware that the Baldwin boys’ haven’t won in a while: Nassau County Player of the Year.

Rodwell was part of the varsity squad his junior year, but didn’t get much playing time. The 6-foot-one-inch shooting guard played behind DeMarco Barnes, an All-County player himself, last year and didn’t factor into many games.

But in the off-season, Rodwell focused on his offensive game and built chemistry with his teammates that propelled him to having a successful season his senior year. He could always shoot the ball well, coach Darius Burton said, but his work ethic made him a complete player. “He just worked his butt off,” Burton said. “I’m of the belief that individuals get better in the off-season but a team gets better during the season. He put in the time.”

Just before the season started, though, Rodwell tried out for a team that would be comprised of the best players in Nassau County to square off against Suffolk County’s best. He was cut from the team, but instead of letting it get him down, he used it as motivation.

Rodwell said his dad, Darryl, told him he had something to prove to the rest of the county this season. And he did just that.

“I came in with the goal of just trying to play,” Rodwell said. “I could say I surprised myself at the end of the day. I was expecting to come off the bench and one thing just led to another.”

The things that led to one another all involved Rodwell scoring baskets and putting up impressive offensive numbers. “After the first breakout games I thought eventually this ball is going to stop going in at such a high rate,” he said. But it never stopped.

Rodwell went on to average about 18 points per game and drained more than 45 percent of the 3-pointers he took. With such a high percentage of made treys, it didn’t take long for Rodwell to break the school’s record for 3-pointers in a season of 53, which was set the previous year by Barnes. Rodwell finished with 75. “It was a good feeling,” he said. “Now I have something to leave Baldwin when I leave.”

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