Baldwin upsets Great Neck South to reach fifth straight Nassau final

After pulling off the biggest upset of the year, Baldwin boys basketball will play for the Nassau championship for the fifth consecutive season.

In the Nassau Class AA semifinal game on Tuesday night, fifth-seeded Baldwin knocked off top-seeded Great Neck South — Long Island’s only remaining undefeated team — in a 56-45 win at Farmingdale State. Baldwin (16-7) will return to Farmingdale on Saturday to take on No. 2 Elmont at 6 p.m. in the county final.

Though Great Neck South (21-1) had not lost a game coming in and opened Tuesday night on an 11-2 run, Baldwin senior guard Chase Timberlake loved their chances to win.

“I realized we’ve got this from the start,” Timberlake said after the game. “We stayed composed, even though we were down early. We just did the stuff we had to. Our goal was to get the win, and we got it.”

While leading 29-28 with just under four and a half minutes left in the third quarter, junior forward Mical Saint Jean knocked down a three-pointer off a drive-and-kick assist from Timberlake to go up by two possessions. Slightly more than a minute later, Saint Jean drilled another three-pointer off a dish from junior guard Ethan Sainsbury.

On the ensuing inbound pass, Timberlake recorded a steal and swung it over to the right wing, where Saint Jean was waiting open. His three-pointer hit the side of the rim, popped straight up, rolled around and fell through the net to ignite the Baldwin crowd.

With just 30 seconds left in the quarter, Saint Jean set himself up at the top of the key and rattled in his fourth three of the period and his fifth of the night, giving Baldwin its largest lead (14 points) of the game. Saint Jean finished with 17 points.

“It was very relieving; I was really excited to watch it go down after the third bounce,” Saint Jean said. “It just kind of played on the rim there.”

Saint Jean credited his hot streak to the coaching he received.

“I just started going through the plays and just letting it fly,” Saint Jean said.

From there, Baldwin played it smart to nail home the victory. Timberlake picked up three assists in the fourth quarter, including a no-look dime on a three-pointer by junior forward Isaiah Lett with 1:35 left, to keep them ahead by double digits. Timberlake finished with 10 points and five assists.

After falling behind 11-2, junior center Gabriel Phillips took over the game in the paint and on the glass, which changed everything. Phillips scored 13 points — all in the paint — and pulled down 12 rebounds and also blocked two shots.

Four of his boards came on the offensive glass, which led to seven second-chance points for Baldwin. Not including team rebounds on balls out of bounds, Great Neck South only grabbed three offensive boards with Phillips on the court.

Phillips’ biggest moment was with 5:50 left in the third quarter, when he hit a fast-break layup through a foul and converted the free throw to keep Baldwin ahead by four points. From there, Saint Jean’s hot streak began, and the rest became history.

“It feels great,” Phillips said. “We lost to them twice in the regular season, so we had the motivation to come in and try to beat them.”

Great Neck South senior guard Jesse Roggendorf led all scorers with 23 points