Williams leads Baldwin in Class AA semis

The captain moved up in rank Saturday afternoon.

Junior point guard Brandon Williams made several key plays down the stretch to rescue cold-shooting Baldwin and lead the No. 1 Bruins to a tough 54-49 victory over No. 5 Great Neck South in a Nassau Class AA semifinal game at SUNY-Old Westbury.

Baldwin will face Elmont for the county championship at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hofstra.

"He took the initiative to get us going. He's a general," Baldwin coach Darius Burton said after Williams' 17-point performance. "He's me on the court. It's a little unusual for us to have a junior captain, but his work ethic on and off the court is outstanding."

Williams was especially outstanding in the fourth quarter as the Bruins (16-3) couldn't shake the resilient Rebels (15-5), whose poise under defensive duress kept them in the game against a team that had scored 92 points in a quarterfinal victory, hitting 12 three-pointers. "This was definitely closer than we expected," Williams said.

The Bruins led 45-44 with about three minutes left and had just missed a handful of seemingly easy putbacks when the ball was kicked out to Williams alone on the left wing. "We average nine threes a game, but the shots weren't falling today," Burton said. "I think we were settling for too many jump shots."

That's why Williams didn't immediately fire up the trey despite being wide open. "I was a little hesitant at first," he said. "But then I knew it was the right shot at that time."

Williams drained the rainbow three for a four-point lead with 2:56 left. A little more than a minute later, he came up with yet another critical play. With his team clinging to a 50-46 lead and Great Neck South racing upcourt with possession of the ball, Williams stepped into the passing lane at midcourt, made an interception and dribbled toward the basket. Although he missed the layup attempt, he stayed in the play as teammate Kyle Richardson grabbed the offensive rebound but misfired on the putback. Williams grabbed the carom and banked it in for a 52-46 lead with 48 seconds left.

"I was reading the point guard's eyes and I just sprinted to make the steal," Williams said. "As the point guard and a captain, I felt like the team was depending on me."

Baldwin usually can depend on its high-scoring duo of Aaron Greene and Tziah Wood-Smith, but they totaled only 14 points. However, Kyle Richardson contributed 11 and the entire Baldwin frontcourt crashed the offensive boards, creating enough second-chance points to offset the frigid shooting.

"Believe it or not, we're a good shooting team," Burton said, "but you wouldn't know it today."

Good thing they had Captain - make that General - Williams to take control.