Undefeated Bay Shore defeats Baldwin for first LI title since 1981 and fifth in program history
Jonathan Boakye of Bay Shore celebrates with teammates after the Marauders' 66-45 win over Baldwin in the Long Island Class AAA boys basketball championship at Farmingdale State College on Saturday. Credit: James Escher
Perfection has been the standard for the Bay Shore boys basketball team this season.
A 66-45 victory over Nassau champion Baldwin in the Long Island Class AAA championship/Southeast Regional final marked the Marauders’ 24th without a loss. But Saturday’s win at Farmingdale State College was a bit sweeter than the rest.
Bay Shore trailed for just 47 seconds to claim its first Long Island title since 1981 and its fifth in program history. Saturday’s win came a week after the Marauders beat previously undefeated Floyd for their first county title since 2004 – snapping two lengthy title droughts in an eight-day span.
“Very happy for this Bay Shore community, finally winning this after many, many years,” Bay Shore coach Ken Parham said. “Very happy. The kids played well, they deserved it.”
“We all work together,” guard Tashawn Bumpers said. “Every day in practice we make each other better. Our communication, everything we do, we do as a team. We’re not a selfish team. We pass the ball. We don’t care who gets 10 [points]. We can all get 10 points and win the game. You don’t have to score just to win, we play defense.”
Guard Khamari Broomfield scored 18 points and Bumpers scored 16 for Bay Shore (24-0). Forward Christian Smiley added a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double and guard Carter Wilson had a near-triple-double with nine points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
“That’s what makes us difficult to guard,” Parham said. “We have four guys who can get 20 any night. And again today, they all stepped up and it was very helpful.”
Bay Shore plays Section VI champion Niagara Falls in the state semifinals next Saturday at 2:15 p.m. at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls. It looks for its first state championship.
Bumpers scored eight first-quarter points on two threes and a layup. The Marauders led 21-10 after one quarter, but Baldwin (17-7) stormed back. The Bruins went on an 11-0 run to cut a 21-7 deficit to 21-18, and they went on an 8-0 run to take a brief 31-30 lead before Bay Shore took a 32-31 halftime lead.
“When we went into halftime, we were all mad,” Bumpers said. “Nobody laughed about being up by one point, but we had a lead and we blew it. So after that we just came out the locker room, intensity in our head, we went crazy after that.”
Bay Shore scored the first nine points of the third quarter, building a 41-31 lead with 5:14 left. Smiley scored seven points, Bumpers six and forward Niall Haughney four in the third quarter. Bay Shore allowed only three third-quarter points and carried a 52-34 lead into the fourth.
“We hit one of our little lows where we couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” Baldwin coach Darius Burton said. “They came out like they wanted to go upstate. We just couldn’t put the ball in the basket. We were held to three points. We’re not going to be able to go win a game like that, scoring three points in the third out of halftime.”
Guard Chase Timberlake scored 12 points and guard Peyton Howell scored 11 for Baldwin, which won its fourth straight county title by beating Port Washington last Saturday.
“I definitely think we exceeded expectations,” Burton said. “We only really had two guys that really played a lot (last year). I’m very proud of this group. We’ll be back next year. We got eight returning players with plenty of experience. But right now it really hurts.”
With two more wins, the Marauders can go from perfect to legendary.
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.