Colonia’s Baker Headed to Duquesne

After Playing a Year of Post-Graduate Hoops, 2019 GMC Hoops Player of the Year to Play in the A-10 Next Year

COLONIA, NJ—Late last spring, Colonia’s Chad Baker, who had come off a terrific season, where he led his team to the 2019 NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 Championship, played in both the NJSCA and GMCBCA Senior All-Star Games, and was honored as the GMC Hoops Player of the Year, appeared headed to Mississippi Valley State to play college hoops there.

By the fall though, Baker was headed in another direction. The 6’7” forward, originally from the Dominican Republic, decided to go the post-graduate route, and attend Spire Academy in the Cleveland, Ohio area to play for its post-graduate team. Spire Academy, which was the home for the likes of LaMelo Ball, the younger brother of Lonzo Ball, who played at UCLA, and is now with the New Orleans Pelicans after playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, has both a post-graduate team and a high school team.

Baker, who averaged 19.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 1.1 assists per game as a senior at Colonia, was a key contributor to a Spire Academy team that finished 24-5 overall, and was ranked 8th nationally among prep schools. After starting the season at 3-3 following three consecutive losses in November to Woodstock Academy (91-73), Springfield Commonwealth (61-58), and Putnam Science (97-87) during a road trip to Connecticut, Spire Academy won 21 of its last 23 games.

Qualifying for the National Prep Championship Tournament, Spire Academy played Northfield Mount Hernon in the first round on March 10th, and lost 65-57. Northfield Mount Hernon then defeated IMG Academy’s Post-Graduate team (102-79) in the Quarterfinals before losing to Putnam Science in the semifinals (79-71). Putnam Science, which concluded the season at 32-3 overall, ended up being co-champions with Brewster Academy (33-2) after the tourney was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Getting a lot of notice during Spire’s run, Baker drew interest from Duquesne of the Atlantic-10. The Dukes, a charter member of the A-10 conference going back to when it was originally the Eastern 8 back in 1976, went 21-9 this past season including an 11-7 mark in conference play to earn a fifth place tie with St. Bonaventure. Duquesne improved a bit from its 19-13 finish a year ago including a 10-8 finish in the A-10.

As a senior, Baker didn’t get many D1 offers a year ago. Not until midway through his junior year did the Colonia native become a significant commodity. Consequently, Baker went under the radar for most Division I schools, especially in New Jersey. Baker, who played AAU basketball with the NJ Bulldogs, initially indicated during the spring a year ago that he was looking to go the post-graduate route, but by June, he had decided to attend Mississippi Valley State along with Ahmadu Sarnor, who was a member of Ranney’s TOC winning team with the likes of Scottie Lewis, Bryan Antoine, and Alex Klatsky.

Going back to the post-graduate route turned out to be a great decision for Baker, who got another year to develop academically and physically, which resulted in increased interest on the D1 recruiting scene, and his commitment to Duquesne. Congratulations Chad, and continued success moving forward.