Baldwin boys upset Great Neck South to get to 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 — 56-45 at Farmingdale State. Baldwin (16-7) will return to Farmingdale on Saturday to take on No. 2 Elmont, which beat No. 3 Garden City, at 6 p.m. in the county final.

South (21-1) opened the game on an 11-2 run, but senior guard Chase Timberlake loved Baldwin’s chances. “I realized we’ve got this from the start,” Timberlake said. “We stayed composed, even though we were down. We just did the stuff we had to. Our goal was to get the win, and we got it.”

Leading 29-28 with just under 4 1/2 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 four points. Slightly more than a minute later, Saint Jean drilled another trey off a pass from junior guard Ethan Sainsbury.

On the ensuing inbounds pass, Timberlake recorded a steal and swung it over to the right wing, where Saint Jean was waiting. His three-pointer hit the side of the rim, popped straight up, rolled around and fell through 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 a 14-point lead, its largest 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.

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 nailed down the win. Timberlake picked up three assists in the fourth quarter, including a no-look pass that led to a three-pointer by junior Isaiah Lett with 1:35 left, to keep a double-digit lead. 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. Phillips scored 13 points — all inside — and pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked two shots.

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

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

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