Baldwin’s season ends with loss in state semifinal
Baldwin's Shane Gatling, left, drives the baseline against Middletown's Daniel Grant during a Class AA semifinal at the 2016 NYSPHSAA Boys Basketball Championships held at the Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, N.Y. on Saturday, March 12, 2016. Credit: Adrian Kraus/ Adrian Kraus
GLENS FALLS, N.Y. — Usually, loose balls and rebounds belong to Baldwin, and the Bruins leave opponents in ruins with their defense.
But on Saturday, those 50-50 balls went to Middletown and the Bears went to town.
“We didn’t play Baldwin Bruins basketball. We picked the wrong time for that,” Baldwin coach Darius Burton said after a 77-64 loss ended his team’s season in a state Class AA semifinal at Glens Falls Civic Center. “They outhustled us and we didn’t get the stops when we needed to.”
That was especially true down the stretch.
Baldwin trailed by only 62-60 with 4:31 left, thanks to senior Shane Gatling’s 29-point finale, including 23 in the second half and nine in the fourth quarter.
But that juncture was when sharp-shooting junior forward Jared Rhoden (16 points) fouled out. Moments later, so did 6-7 senior center Justin Caldwell. Middletown (20-4) closed the game on a 15-4 run.
“Seventy-seven points is the most we’ve allowed all season,” Burton said. “It’s the first time after 19 straight games that we gave up more than 55 points in a game. Credit Middletown. We knew they were athletic, but we didn’t defend well and we were a step slow with everything.”
Baldwin finished 22-2, the most victories in school history, according to Burton. But despite a pronounced height advantage up front, the Bruins were outrebounded 40-27. Middletown’s Jordan Bryan, a powerful 6-2, 210-pound football player, grabbed 14, including nine offensive boards, and scored 19 points. Kyle Brown scored 22 and Ken Middleton added 10 points and had eight rebounds.
Gatling’s frank postgame assessment: “They were more athletic than we were and we let them bully us. They played harder.”
But Gatling didn’t go softly in his last game. Held in check in the first half, he came out firing in the third quarter with two from downtown early in the period, plus a conventional three- point play and baseline jumper that highlighted an 11-0 Baldwin run that tied it at 49 with 34 seconds left.
“I didn’t want to lose,” Gatling said. “I knew I had to take over the game.”
That’s because Rhoden was in foul trouble much of the second half and had to be subbed out frequently in offensive-defensive scenarios. None of the other Bruins could pick up the scoring slack.
“Shane got us going, but that didn’t surprise me,” Burton said, acknowledging he challenged his two-year captain at halftime. “He’s done it all year and for his entire career. He left it out on the floor.”
