Hansen, Auburn bury Kennewick in 3A state basketball opener, 69-33
It’s safe to say that the Auburn High School boys basketball team was properly motivated after being upset by Mount Spokane in last weekend’s state regional round.
The Trojans, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, came out in the opening round of the Class 3A state basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome on Wednesday morning and jumped all over No. 15 Kennewick, racing out to an early lead and never letting the foot off the gas in a 69-33 rout.
“We were super motivated,” said senior guard Kaden Hansen, who scored a game-high 24 points in the win. “We knew if we lose, our season’s over. That’s what happened our sophomore year and we didn’t want that to happen again. We came in here and made sure everyone had sleep, everyone was ready to go and put on a show.
“We came out, we were talking before the game, we wanted to punch them in the mouth and keep punching them, don’t stop. We wanted to jump on them and keep it going.”
The loss to Mount Spokane last Saturday was just Auburn’s second of the season (the other coming to Garfield, the top seed in this year’s tournament). It didn’t sit well with the Trojans, who have blown out virtually everyone in their path this winter. Auburn coach Ryan Hansen said the players were focused at practice, but also kept the loss in perspective.
“They were really excited to play,” he said. “They handled it really well, they were really mature, the way they handled that game after they lost. They really just looked at it as another opportunity to play together, another game. Our experience two years ago without a lot of our kids, being here and losing that first game, they didn’t want to experience that again, so they were locked in and ready to go.”
Kaden Hansen, the team’s go-to perimeter shooter, said he wasn’t feeling his shot in warmups before the game. That sure didn’t carry over once the ball tipped; Hansen converted six of his 13 attempts from behind the arc, on fire from 3-point range all game long.
“It just kind of clicked and once I got a couple going, I was just shooting everything, feeling good,” Hansen said.
Ryan Hansen said he had a feeling that Kaden, his son, could have a big game.
“He shot it pretty well,” Hansen said. “We knew going in that they’re pretty much an exclusive 2-3 (zone) team, so we knew that he was going to have lots of opportunities. He got it going a little bit.”
Guard Dae’Kwon Watson scored 22 points for the Trojans. Tre Blassingame and Maleek Arington had relatively quiet statistical games, with five and three points, respectively.
Auburn’s loss in regionals put the Trojans on the upper half of the bracket, creating a tougher path to the state championship game. Wednesday’s win sets up a rematch with No. 1 Garfield in Thursday’s quarterfinal round. Garfield beat Auburn in a holiday tournament hosted by the Trojans in December, 62-53. What will it take for the Trojans to knock off the tournament’s No. 1 seed? A near-perfect effort.
“You’ve gotta play really, really well,” Ryan Hansen said. “You’ve gotta be poised, tough, really focus on our assignments. It’s going to take 100 percent effort for 32 minutes. Our kids want the opportunity, they’re excited and we know we’ll have to play really well to beat those guys. They’re a great team.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 12:55 PM.
