Down goes No. 1: Auburn knocks off defending state champ and top-seeded Garfield, 64-60
For most of the game, Auburn junior Tyrell Nichols sat on the bench, watching his Trojans’ teammates duke it out with No. 1 Garfield in the 3A state tournament quarterfinals. Then senior Tre Blassingame — who had ice in his veins, sinking two free throws with 0.8 seconds to go in regulation to send the game into overtime — fouled out, and Nichols’ number was called.
Trailing by one with 45 seconds to go, Nichols stepped up and hit the biggest shot of his life, a 3-pointer to give Auburn the lead, which it hung onto from that point, knocking off the tournament’s No. 1 seed and the defending (2020) state champion Bulldogs, 64-60.
“I just wanted to win,” said Nichols, calmly, seconds after the game concluded. “I seen the opportunity so I took it. I just thought it was my time to step up.”
Talking to Nichols after the adrenaline-pumping back and forth game, it’d be hard to know he’d just hit the shot that sent Auburn past the defending state champions.
“That’s how he always is,” said Auburn coach Ryan Hansen. “He’s almost the perfect kid for that moment, because he almost doesn’t know how big a moment it is. He’s a laid back kid and that’s what you saw, that’s who he is. He’s a really good player that doesn’t get to play as much because of the players in front of him. For him to come in in that moment and make a shot like that just speaks to him being ready to come in.”
His biggest cheerleader might have Blassingame, who had fouled out minutes earlier.
“I know he’s super happy, it made me hysterical,” Blassingame said. “We always preach being ready no matter what, you never know when your number is gonna get called. I appreciate him.”
And it was because of Blassingame that Nichols had the chance to make that shot in the first place. If not for Blassingame hitting two free throws with under a second to go to send the game into overtime, Garfield would have moved on.
“Tre is one of our hardest workers,” Hansen said. “He spends the most time in the gym. Every morning, he’s working on his shot. So I had no doubt those were going down, he’s worked too hard.”
With under 10 seconds to go in overtime, Auburn held a 62-60 led and was inbounding the ball under its own basket. Garfield managed to force a turnover, after which Garfield’s Raphiel Justice drove into the lane. He found Auburn’s Dae’Kwon Watson there, holding his ground and drawing a charge foul. Watson would go on to make a pair of free throws at the other end to seal Auburn’s win.
“I just seen, he started to dribble,” Watson said. “I just took the charge, glad I got the charge.”
Auburn came out hot, outsourcing Garfield 17-12 in the first quarter. But the Trojans cooled off, scoring just 19 combined points in the second and third quarters. Eventually, the Trojans came out of their slump, outscoring Garfield 17-11 in the fourth quarter.
“We just had to keep playing, honestly,” Blassingame said. “We respect them, they respect us. So we just had to keep doing what we do, focus on defense and know the offense will come. We’ll start making shots offensively.”
Auburn’s players had this game circled when the state brackets were released. Garfield had beat them earlier in the season, in December at a holiday tournament hosted by Auburn. Thursday’s win was sweet revenge.
“Ever since then, we just wanted our payback,” Watson said.
Watson scored a game-high 22 points for Auburn. Maleek Arington added 20 and Blassingame added 13. For Garfield, Jaylin Stewart and former Lakes standout Kenzel Massey scored 16 apiece.
Auburn will face Seattle Prep — another Metro League team — in the tournament semifinals, Friday at 3:45 p.m. Garfield will move into the consolation bracket and face Eastside Catholic Friday at 9 a.m.
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 1:54 PM.
