Baldwin beats Patriots in front of raucous crowd

Published 11:06 am Tuesday, February 4, 2025

When it’s good basketball against good basketball, two top 10 teams in the state, it’s a different game. A different atmosphere (and it was Friday with a Homecoming crowd at Baldwin High School’s James A. Lunsford court). It requires for certain a different game plan, for what may work against someone in the bottom half of Region 4-AAA may not work against a three-time state championship program.

By scoring 11 of the last 13 points of the game from the foul line (all while missing 10 for the whole contest in 25 attempts), No. 10 Baldwin High held off the No. 9 Westside High Patriots of Augusta 72-65 in a result that – for the time being – slipped the Braves and coach Ben Smith into second place by themselves in 4-AAA at 11-2. It also split the two regular-season meetings between the clubs with title-winning pedigrees as the Patriots won the first meeting that took place in Augusta on Jan. 3.

Smith was all about respect for the Westside team that won the last three GHSA championships in the AA level before moving up to AAA in 2024-25 (Baldwin also moved down from AAAA to AAA).

“We had a conversation at the last game just saying how we appreciate each other’s team,” said Smith about the leadership of the Patriots. “You just can’t find that type of competition every night. Hats off to them.

“We had to play a little more zone that usual. The bench didn’t go as deep. Had to fight a little longer. Different offensive strategy. (Westside) did a good job coming out in a 2-1-2 matchup, which is something we hadn’t seen this year from them on tape. I thought the first couple of minutes was smart on his part. It tests you in a battle you can’t find most nights.”

While Smith didn’t go deep into his bench Friday, those who did come off the pines gave perhaps career performances for the season. That includes forward Jaylen “Boom” King, who had 11 points and led Baldwin with seven rebounds. Back-up guard Zion Grant got one of the kindest rolls he will see on a clutch fourth-quarter 3-pointer when the Braves went ahead for good.

King and Grant complimented the work of starters Deven Nelson, who had 24 points and six assists, and Karez Demroy, who had 18 points and four assists.

“That’s what we’ve been waiting on,” said Smith about the reserves. “Those guys are more than capable of making plays. We’ve been encouraging them to take those shots. Live in the moment. You work every day. ‘Boom’ is so physical. He’s stronger than most people most nights. Zion’s been coming in every morning taking 100, 200 3s. In those moments, don’t be afraid to shoot. It’s still an open 3 you take in practice every day. We believe in him and he believes in himself.”

Smith said Baldwin is now at a point where they aren’t stuck in a rut expecting the same players to do great every game. Other big contributors here and there to beat Westside were starting forward Jared Mundie and back-up center Amos Bouie Turner.

Instead of trying to press and run and a helter-skelter pace, Baldwin played a patient game with the Patriots. The Braves in fact did not score until 4:50 of the first quarter when forward Bryan Goddard caused a turnover cashed in by Mundie. Westside was up 8-4 when, at 3:07, Nelson hit his team’s first perimeter shot with a corner 3.

King gave Baldwin its first lead with its first second-shot attempt on the next possession. Demory completed a 7-0 run with a second-shot step-in jumper.

Westside negated several of its takeaways with traveling violations – three in all for the quarter – but reclaimed the lead at 12-11 at the end with a transition basket.

The teams swapped leads four times in the second quarter, and again it was the Baldwin bench making early impacts with a King assist to Turner. That put the Braves up 14-12, and then after falling behind by two, Nelson found Demory for an inbound 3-pointer to go ahead 17-16. Baldwin’s biggest lead was six thanks to another Demory trey, but with 1:38 on the clock the Patriots completed a 9-0 run.

Even as Demory assisted Trakeon Downing’s basket inside late in the half, Westside stood tall at intermission 31-26. That lead stretched out to nine, 42-33, midway through the third quarter.

So it fell on the Braves to finish strong and close that gap, and that’s what they did with six straight points out of Nelson’s hands. Turner, who blocked two shots on the defensive side, slammed home the completion of an 8-0 run.

With 20 seconds left in the quarter, Grant nailed his first 3-pointer, which accounted for the only lead change of the period. With eight more minutes to play, Baldwin was up 46-45. While the third had a lot of sizzle, the fourth had a lot of mistakes. But the Braves would never trail, the best Westside being able to do was achieve tied scores. Both King and Demory broke those ties, and King had a ‘look-what-I-found’ steal fall into his hands.

When Mundie’s hustle saved Baldwin’s possession, it was King scoring on the inbound for what was the game-winner at 54-52. Nelson followed with a put-back of two missed foul shots, and at 56-55 Grant’s rolling 3 made it a four-point game. King in the last two minutes scored the final field goal amid the free throws.

The win was exciting, but Baldwin needed to quickly forget about it with a loaded schedule facing them to close out the regular season. They defeated Washington County High in Sandersville 60-53 Saturday behind 26 points from Nelson. Next was Howard High of Macon in a region game Tuesday at home, then the big makeup from Jan. 21’s snow cancellation with region leading and No. 2-ranked Cross Creek in Milledgeville.

“They are high school kids,” said Smith. “The student section was great (Friday). I wanted them to enjoy (the win), get your pats on the back, but when you wake up tomorrow it’s a new day. We have to get ready to play basketball again.”