Long Beach hangs 13 straight

The Long Beach boys’ basketball team entered last Saturday afternoon’s home matchup with perennial-power Baldwin as one of the hottest teams on Long Island. The Marines were riding a 13-game winning streak and were rolling over league opponents.

But, despite a fast start and a gutty finish, Long Beach came up short. Seniors Lance Henry and Kamani Jones each scored 14 points to lead Baldwin to a 66-57 non-league victory. Long Beach senior Alex Bauer led all scorers with 16 points.

The Bruins appeared to have the game put on ice when they opened up a 19-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Marines roared back. A bucket by Jacob Cochran capped off a 14-2 run to get Long Beach within striking distance at 62-56 with a minute to play, but it would get no closer.

Baldwin, which improved to 12-3, was seemingly shooting free throws in the bonus situation when it got off the bus. The Bruins went 27 for 39 from the line for the game. Three Long Beach starters were saddled with foul trouble in the opening half.

“It’s a disappointing loss, but we’ll bounce back,” Long Beach head coach Scott Martin said. “There’s no satisfaction for us in just playing with Baldwin. We want to beat Baldwin. And, I think we’re better than them. They hit some big threes, we missed free throws, and they went to the foul line 40 times. That was the game.”

The Marines, who are 13-2 overall (10-0 in Conference A-I) hadn’t lost since falling on opening night way back on Dec. 2. In their most recent win, 11 players scored in a 88-52 rout at New Hyde Park. Jaden Barwicki led the way with 23 points.

One of the keys to Long Beach’s success is its ability to get scoring from a multitude of players. At 16.6 points per game, Bauer is the team’s leading scorer, but he’s just one of many offensive threats. Barwicki (16.3 ppg), Cochran (12 ppg), and Evan Michaels (10.1) are each capable of taking over a game at any time.

Cochran has been solid in big moments. He scored a career-high 20 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in a 59-56 road win against conference-rival Garden City on January 10. Michaels is a double-double machine. He scored 13 points and grabbed a season-high 20 boards in the New Hyde Park game.

Martin likes the way his team is playing as the regular season winds down. “I feel great about things,” Martin said. “On the defensive end, the guys are focusing on rotation, boxing out, and rebounding, and offensively, they’re just playing smart basketball. I feel like we have a good chance to go undefeated in the league, and hopefully grab home court for the first two rounds of the playoffs.”

Long Beach, which is a victory away from locking up the conference title, hosts Great Neck South on Monday, Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m.