In one sense, last year was the end of an era for the Port Washington boys basketball team.
Four senior starters led the Vikings on an incredible ride that galvanized an entire town, as Port won the county title for the first time since 1947, added an LI championship and came within one win of the state crown.
It would be easy, and expected, for Port Washington to fall back to the pack this season. But the truth is, this year’s team had lots of seniors as well, elevated to key roles.
And as coach Sean Dooley pointed out, all those seniors knew was that Port always reached the county championship game.
It was the fourth straight time the Vikings played for the county championship, but Saturday night at Farmingdale State Port once again ran into Baldwin.
The teams were meeting for the third time in four years in the Class AAA title game, and each time the Bruins have just been a little too tough. This year’s battle was just like the other two, low-scoring and tight to the end, and once again Baldwin made just enough plays to pull it out, winning 47-40.
It was the sixth straight county title for the Baldwin dynasty (last season it dropped down to Class AA).
“This final (loss), I’m a little more at peace with than the other two,” Dooley said. “Because we weren’t nervous, we didn’t play poorly. We played well, we did what we wanted to do in the game plan. They had a kid come off the bench (Rian Gittens) and hit three 3’s, and that got them going.”
The Vikings (17-6) had reached the finals after a couple of very close playoff games, a six-point win over Uniondale, and then a 35-32 squeaker over Valley Stream Central in the semifinals.
But Saturday, Port Washington came out hot, stretching a three-point first quarter lead up to 13, 19-6, midway through the second.
Source: LI Press
