Portledge School's Zaire Baines charges past LI scoring record, 3,000 on horizon
Zaire Baines, Portledge senior, reacts to a basket in the second quarter of a boys basketball game against Stony Brook School at Island Garden in West Hempstead on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. Credit: James Escher
The juxtaposition of exceptional athletic achievement and despairing heartache is a rarity.
Portledge senior Zaire Baines, who now stands alone as Long Island’s all-time leading boys basketball scorer, has experienced both.
The 5-11 point guard this past week surpassed Greenport star Ryan Creighton’s record of 2,799 points set during a career from 2004-09 in which he was named to Newsday’s All-Long Island first or second team three times. Baines, twice selected to Newsday’s All-Long Island teams thus far, broke Creighton’s record when he scored 40 points in a 75-53 victory over The Stony Brook School on Thursday. He has 2,835 career points.
"I don’t really think about the record," Baines, 17, said last week. "Maybe it crossed my mind first when I hit 1,000 points and maybe again when I hit 2,000 [in 2020]. But a lot has happened in the past year and it really hasn’t been on my mind as much."
Baines was very close with Uniondale star guard Jo-Jo Wright, who was killed in an automobile accident on Jan. 27, 2021. They were longtime friends and teamed in the starting backcourt for the Heat Elite AAU team in 2019. Baines now has a tattoo on his left arm that pays homage to Wright.
"I’d give back my points to be with him again," Baines said. "Today I try to live out his dream and his legacy."
Baines grew up in a distressed area of South Jamaica in Queens. The arc of his relationship to basketball changed when, as a sixth-grader, he tried out for and made the Heat Elite team.
James Baines, a retired carpenter and Zaire’s father, said he realized that his son wanted to dedicate himself to basketball shortly after that when he declared, "I don’t want to play football anymore."
"He was a great athlete and an excellent football player," James Baines said. "He wanted to be the best basketball player he could be, and what you see now is a product of his dedication."
Before eighth grade, he moved in with Nick Tsikitas, who ran the charity for underprivileged youth that sponsors Heat Elite and had become Portledge’s coach. Tsikitas and his family fostered a number of kids, both athletes and non-athletes, and living in Locust Valley cut Baines’ long commute from Queens significantly.
"It allowed me more time to play basketball, but also more time to get one-on-one time with teachers and improve my grades," said Baines, who has a 3.1 GPA. "Doing well in school is key. You don’t have basketball without doing well in school, and you have your education even when you don’t play basketball."
His game evolved as he grew. He was a spot-up shooting guard and sometime slasher when he made the Panthers’ varsity as an eighth-grader. As he grew to 185 pounds, so did his workout regimen. Ballhandling and passing became as important as shooting.
"He emerged as a true point guard," Tsikitas said. "He always has had a pure scoring ability — his shoulders always square to the basket, the great body control, a fearlessness about driving in against taller players — but he also now keeps everyone involved."
"I love assists," Baines said. "Nothing’s better than when everyone on the team is happy, and I can make them happy with assists."
His defense can be strong, too. In a travel team game in which he was matched against Bronny James, LeBron James’ son, Baines held him to five points and scored 17.
Baines said he always has felt some criticism — voiced and unvoiced — about his accomplishments. He played an extra season because he started on the varsity before his freshman year. His team competes in the Private School Athletic Association, in which few teams are the caliber of those in the Catholic or public school leagues.
A few factors make the case that any criticism is unfounded. Baines may have begun playing before his freshman year, but he still set this mark while playing only three games in 2020-21 because of the coronavirus pandemic. And Tsikitas has Portledge playing a very ambitious schedule.
The Panthers have won three of five games against Long Island Catholic school teams this season and have a win over Suffolk public powerhouse Brentwood. In those six games, Baines averaged 29.0 points.
"He’s incredibly competitive," Tsikitas said. "His game ascends to another level in those kind of games."
"What other people say and think? It only motivates me," Baines said. "Even Kevin Durant has haters."
The recruiting picture for Baines is still developing. There has been a long line of Division II schools with offers for a long time. In recent days, Tsikitas said, Division I schools have started to make inquiries.
Asked about what he wants this season, Baines doesn’t refer to anything about a record or a scholarship offer. Those, he said, will come with time.
"I want to win a state championship," he said. "We got to play for the title two years ago and lost [to Brooklyn’s Poly Prep]. That’s an experience I want."
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
