By STEVE SINISKI
It may not have been a made-for-TV movie, but it wasn't far off. The Baldwin boys' varsity basketball team won the holiday tournament with a 72-57 win over Lawrence in the finals on Thursday, Dec. 28. It marked the first time Bruins coach Darius Burton, Jr., squared off against his father, Darius, Sr., at the varsity level.
Led by Marcus Taylor (24 points, 17 rebounds), the Bruins gave Burton a 1-0 lead in the hoops series against his father. I haven't seen any big man who's been able to stop him,Burton said of his center/forward. We just tell him show everyone what he's made of and how talented he is. Through five games, Taylor has scored less than 21 points just once, and has posted double-digit rebounding totals in every game.
Baldwin advanced to the championship game with a 66-48 win over Port Washington on Dec. 27. I was very impressed with Port Washington,Burton said. They were No. 10 in Conference B in the final seeding, but I knew they were much better than the ranking.
A tight game through the first half, the Bruins broke it open late in the third quarter that continued into the final stanza. We generally have one run during each game where we open things up. At halftime, we knew that hadn't happened yet, so we just had to wait it out.
With the crowd buzzing following a Daniel Phillips dunk, Baldwin broke down what had been a solid Port Washington defense. They were playing a zone, so we went with more shooters on the court,Burton said. But we were gradually able to open things up for our slashers.
The catalysts for the Bruins strong start have been Taylor, Phillips and their fellow captain, Tyrone Gilmore. With Taylor clogging the lane on defense and crashing the boards on both ends of the court, it opened up space for Gilmore (13.0 points per game) including at least one three-pointer in each contest and Phillips (9.8 ppg) with a combined 27 points in the two games.
The defense has come a long way,Burton said of his players efforts. The guys are really starting to like the style, because from one through 11 on the team, everyone gets a chance to play. It also helps that everyone is unselfish and is working towards one common goal
