The Baldwin boys’ basketball team has proven why it’s a top-15 team in Class 4A over the past couple weeks.
The Braves (6-2, 2-0) recently went on a six-game winning streak after dropping their season opener to the Demons of Warner Robins and losing a close one to Lithonia last Saturday. Two of their victories came against region opponents in Howard and Spaulding high schools.
Early this week, head coach Anthony Webb told The Baldwin Bulletin he’s been able to learn a lot about his team recently.
“Some of the younger guys are really starting to step up and better understand what to do. We still haven’t been at full-strength though,” Webb said. “In our most recent game against Lithonia, I believe we only dressed 10 to 11 kids, and both of our top scorers weren’t there. The young guys stepped up, and it always seemed like whatever group we had out there was making plays.”
Despite Rudolph Satcher and Quamond Dennis being out of the lineup on Saturday, Webb’s team was able to keep it competitive in a 49-47 loss to the bigger Class 5A Bulldogs.
Satcher leads the team in scoring, averaging just over 20 points per game, while Dennis is second, averaging a little over 17 points per game. In their place, players like junior Tremarius Lawrence and senior Kenneth Kelsey contributed on the offensive end of the court.
Baldwin currently averages about 62 points per game through eight games, but it’s been the defense that has the Braves currently ranked 14th in Class 4A.
The Braves are holding opponents on average to less than 47 points per game, and Webb believes their tenacity on that end of the court has really boosted their success.
“Everyone is contributing on the defensive end. We speed teams up and a lot of times can’t handle our pressure,” he said. “It’s hard for teams to simulate what we do in practice. I call the defenses from the sideline and talk them through it during games. We try to keep other teams off balance and capitalize on the turnovers.”
Lawrence and Kelsey lead the Braves in steals with 3.8 and 2.1 per game, respectively.
After a Christmas invitational in Albany this week, Baldwin heads into the holiday break to prepare for visiting the Griffin Bears, its next region opponent to open the new year. The Bears are currently 6-6 on the season but 5-1 when defending their home court.
Webb and his Braves will visit Griffin Jan. 3, and the coach acknowledged it will be a tough task, but he’s confident his guys will be ready.
“Griffin has a pretty athletic team and they’re well coached. We just have to continue to play our style of basketball,” Webb said. “We’re going to see if they’ll be able to adapt to it. If we continue to stay aggressive and not adapt to them, we’ll be successful.”