Sweep! Miles Henry drops 25, Auburn basketball wins another against Kentwood
Auburn cemented its hold on first place in the North Puget Sound League Class 4A boys basketball standings Tuesday with a 75-57 win at Kentwood.
The Trojans ran their division record to 8-0 and their overall mark to 14-0 while knocking the Conquerors into a distant three-way tie for second place at 5-3 in division play with Stadium and Kennedy Catholic.
Kentwood fell to 10-4 overall while Stadium, a 63-54 winner over Kennedy Catholic in other Tuesday action, improved to 7-5.
But as easy as Auburn’s win at Kentwood may sound, it was anything but.
The Trojans found themselves without the talents of junior starting guard Chase Mentink for the game as well as for the season.
“He’s no longer with the team,” said Auburn head coach Ryan Hansen, adding no details. “We had some guys step up big time.”
Hansen mentioned the guard play of senior Elijah Jones and freshman Matthew Fredrickson in Mentink’s stead along with the career-high and team-leading 25 points of junior wing Miles Henry.
“Miles Henry had a great game for us,” coach Hansen said. “He picked a good time to do it.”
Henry tallied 13 of his points in the fourth quarter as the Trojans upped a 52-43 advantage at the end of the third quarter to the final 75-57 margin.
Sophomore wing Isaiah Englund backed Henry up with his total of 16 points as senior guard Carter Hansen and junior guard Daniel Johnson hit 14 apiece. Jones and Fredrickson each added three.
Senior guard Corey Tita led Kentwood with 21 points.
Senior guard Mason St. Louis and junior guard Brandon Tagle contributed 15 points apiece as sophomore guard Jacob Bail scored three. Sophomore forward Caleb Ross added two and senior guard Aaron Ton one.
Auburn pulled ahead to stay as Johnson cast in a 3-point basket with 3.4 seconds left on the first quarter clock to make it 15-13 in favor of the Trojans.
Kentwood’s Ton closed the gap to 15-14 with a free throw to open the second quarter scoring, but Auburn broke away with a seven-point run on a 3-pointer by Henry and two points each by Hansen and Johnson.