Is Auburn for real? Win over Federal Way paints a pretty picture
The result was the same, but the dominating method in which the Auburn Trojans beat host Federal Way in an early-season non-conference game on Tuesday night spoke volumes.
In a rematch of the final game of the Covid-19 delayed and truncated season last spring that Auburn won by just two points, the Trojans sprinted away with an early 20-0 run for a 70-56 victory.
Fueled by three 3-pointers, two from Kaden Hansen, Auburn scored the final 13 points of the first quarter to turn a 10-7 deficit with 3 minutes, 3 seconds to play into a 20-10 lead entering the second. The run grew to 20 and the lead to 17 before Roman Hutchinson made the second of two free throws for Federal way with 4:54 left in the first half, cutting the Eagles’ deficit to 27-11.
The Auburn (4-0) advantage grew to 39-19 by halftime and never fell below 18 again until Federal Way put together an 11-2 spurt over the final 4:11 of the game.
Auburn Thrives on Atmosphere
It was a very different performance from vastly the same cast of Trojans that eeked out a 55-53 victory in a sweltering Federal Way gym on Saturday, June 26. With temperatures soaring above 90 degrees, and no fans in the stands, the Trojans won the NPSL 4A versus 3A crossover title game that ended the shortened season.
“Part of it, this was more of a high school basketball game,” Auburn coach Ryan Hansen said. “A loud gym. That’s what you kind of expect. Last year, it just wasn’t that environment. They love to play in an environment like this.”
From the start this season, the energy of a full gym has helped. In their season-opener against Auburn Mountainview, the Trojans hung 94 points on the Lions at home.
“Our first game, we probably had 2,500 people against Mountainview,” Hansen said. “Our gym is like 2,700 and it was near capacity.”
A Little Redemption Never Hurts
That Saturday morning, Kaden Hansen, a junior guard suffered through an off-shooting day and was held to just five points in the close victory. On Tuesday, in the same venue, the senior Hansen poured in five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 26 points.
“It’s fun,” Kaden Hansen said. “It felt like a playoff game. Last year, I didn’t really do much. I wanted to come out and prove something this year. It all started on defense, though. We got stops.”
Leave No Doubt
Auburn’s signature pressure defensively took a toll on Tuesday.
After Isaiah Afework scored his third field goal of the first quarter with 3:03 left, giving Federal Way a 10-7 lead, the Trojans stepped on the gas and simultaneously shut down the Eagles. Afework did finish with a team-high 17 points, but his last two – on two free throws with 1:39 to play in the third quarter – made the score just 58-36.
“I thought they played with more intensity, and I thought there were times like the last time we played them where they would make that second and third effort,” Federal Way coach Yattah Reed said. “We would be there for the first effort, then maybe get a couple of the seconds. But they were just consistently making effort on every play.”
That effort turned into baskets that propelled momentum.
“With a team with their experience, you can’t start off like that,” Reed said. “The turnovers we had, the easy baskets, and Kaden shot the ball well. They feed off that. You can’t give them those energy baskets because they feed off of that.”
When Luvens Valcin took a nifty bounce pass from Dae’Kwon Watson and laid the ball in for Auburn with 4:23 left, the lead sat at 68-45. Coach Hansen slowed his offense to run more clock on each possession after that.
“We got to about four minutes and I was just trying to slow down a little bit,” Ryan Hansen said. “And it’s hard to slow these guys down because they want to play fast. We were just trying to use shot clock, and that’s something we need to practice so that we feel comfortable with it.”