Wins boost Uniondale's confidence

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Playing and beating the four-time defending Nassau Class AAA boys’ basketball champions, Baldwin, by one possession 61-58, in the Richard Brown Classic Jan. 19 was a pretty sweet feeling for Uniondale.

Starting the last week of January 9-5 overall and 6-1 in conference play, it’s all about appreciating what the Knights have done but keeping the ball moving regardless of outside factors.

“We were the underdogs, it was a nail-biter kind of a game, going back and forth,” Uniondale head coach Jaaz Styles. “One of those rivalry games where the crowd’s into it. We were the home team so it was good to have the home crowd behind us.”

The bench showed out the most, with freshman guard Mori Toney putting up 18 points and senior guard Dion Morris contributing 13, for the two to combine for over half of the offensive production.

“When Dion and Mori came into the game, they came in guns blazing right away, so it wasn’t necessarily hard to keep them out there,” Styles said. “They made it pretty easy to ride the wave, if you will.”

Starting sophomore guard Dylan Hickman came up big for Uniondale with 17 points and five assists. The emphasis goes on the seven points Hickman put up in the fourth quarter, enough to be the paradigm shift to pull off the underdog win.

Last Friday, all of these players contributed in Uniondale’s 62-42 win over cross-town rival Hempstead. Hickman and Morris both had 16 points, Morris including four three-pointers, and Toney had 13 points total. Darren Brown put up seven points, with Jaden Owen and Nisich James contributing four points each.

With this, the Knights were reinvigorated after the last set of wins.

“Most of those guys, we lost to Baldwin last year in the playoffs, first round, so most of them were part of that team, so they kind of felt like there was a chip on their shoulder to get this one,” Styles said. “Especially since they’re not in our conference this year, so we won’t get the chance to see them again, so we just wanted to take care of the opportunity.”

Right now, with nothing but league play left, now it’s about hunkering down with what works. “Use our length and our athleticism,” Styles said. “We’re a tall and athletic team and when we use that to our abilities and our strengths, we should be okay. We should force some turnovers, hit dunks and layups, that will help us get the job done.”

While the offense is bustling and moving, the other side of the ball is as important.

“Defensively we do pretty well, we force teams into a lot of turnovers,” Styles said, adding the fact that his squad pushed Baldwin to commit 17 turnovers. “[Practice is] very intense and very intentional, especially when we’re watching film.”