Baldwin boys basketball reaches Nassau Class AAA final
Baldwin's Mical Saint Jean drives toward the basket against Farmingdale during the Nassau Class AAA semifinal on Sunday. Credit: Derrick Dingle
The handshake line was progressing alongside Farmingdale State’s court. Finally, the two coaches met, Baldwin’s Darius Burton and Farmingdale’s Jim Pastier, longtime friends and rivals, and they wrapped their arms around each other.
Burton’s top-seeded Bruins had ridden their formidable defense and their terrific backcourt of Mical Saint Jean and Ethan Sainsbury to their 15th straight win, a 54-41 decision over the fifth-seeded Dalers in Sunday’s Nassau AAA semifinals.
That made this a bittersweet day for Burton.
While Baldwin was able to move on in pursuit of the program’s sixth straight county title, this turned out to be the last day of Pastier’s basketball life. He’s stepping down after 24 seasons in charge at Farmingdale and has no plans to coach again.
“I’m happy that we won,” Burton said, “but I’m sad because a great coach in our association is letting it go.”
Burton has coached Baldwin to the playoffs in all 26 of his seasons. This berth came despite losing talented bigs Dylan Cudjoe and Gabe Phillips to ACL tears before the season tipped off. Now the 20-2 Bruins will chase an 11th county championship under Burton.
They will play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Farmingdale State against second-seeded Port Washington, a 35-32 winner over No. 6 Valley Stream Central in Sunday night’s other semi.
Farmingdale head coach Jim Pastier during the Nassau Class AAA semifinal at Farmingdale State College on March 1, 2026. Credit: Derrick Dingle
“I’m very excited to be in the finals for another year,” Saint Jean said.
The junior scored 21 points and Sainsbury, a senior point guard, contributed 14 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Baldwin led 21-14 at halftime and was up 30-25 in the third.
Then the Bruins took off on a 10-0 run to close the quarter — 40-25.
“Defense, defense, defense,” Saint Jean said. Offense, too. Saint Jean and Sainsbury combined for nine of the points in the burst and for 18 of Baldwin’s 19 points in the period.
“They’re unbelievable,” Burton said. “I’ve got the best backcourt on the Island.”
Brendan Lofaro topped Farmingdale with 11 points. Pastier’s Dalers finished at 16-6. He was feeling sad, too.
“Twenty-four years go by in a blink,” said Pastier, who won six conference titles and a county crown in 2014.
“I remember my very first game coaching like it was yesterday and we’re at this point in my life. It’s time to step aside. I had a great run, great school district, great community, great everything. I couldn’t ask for a better place to be than Farmingdale.”
