By Steve Siniski
Seeded No. 4 in the tournament, Baldwin (15-4) had a first-round bye, a 12-day layoff and the home court advantage entering the match-up with fifth-seeded Farmingdale (14-6).
"They made the key baskets when it counted," Bruins coach Darius Burton said. "We had good shots but they just weren't dropping."
Even after falling behind 13-7 in the opening quarter, there was no reason to hit the panic button. The Bruins offense averaged a hefty 64 points per game during the regular season and always managed to string together one or two big game-changing runs on the strength of its defense. But every time Baldwin appeared ready to forge ahead, turnovers became a major issue, preventing a shift in momentum.
"I felt like we came out ready to go," Burton said. "They didn't do anything we hadn't seen before. We had our chances but every time we made our run [it stalled] by a lack of something we did."
Trailing 27-18 at halftime, the Bruins appeared to kick-start one of their patented runs in the first three minutes of the third quarter, trimming the deficit to a single basket. After forcing a Farmingdale turnover on the next possession, two Bruins had a miscommunication on the transition to offense, and the Dalers regained control. It led to a three-point play and a five-point deficit.
Similarly in the fourth quarter, Baldwin, held at arms length by Farmingdale's 2-3 zone defense and later a Triangle-and-2 formation, managed to make it a one possession game. A turnover on the fast break thwarted the opportunity for a tie.
"They were trying to make other people take shots they're not accustomed to taking," Burton said. "You'd never think in a million years we'd score 43 points. We held them to 50 points and I thought we did a decent job [defensively], but we struggled early and got into foul trouble."
Indeed, the offensive output was the Bruins second lowest of the season, despite the fact that both Chris Dash (16 points) and Scott Henderson (10) scored in double figures; Dan Napolitano scored a game-high 18 points for Farmingdale. By limiting the perimeter attack, Farmingdale took away Baldwin's strength on offense.
"It was frustrating to watch," Burton said. "We waited until this game to play our worst game of the season."
If there's a silver lining to Baldwin's second-round loss, it's the fact that the team is largely young, returning 10 players from this year's team. For the seniors, however, it is a tough way to end their career. "We worked so hard to get the bye week," Burton said. "I felt bad for the seniors to go out like that."
