TACOMA — Somehow, some way, the Auburn boys are in position to defend their Class 3A state basketball title.
The Trojans had to replace their star players from last season. Thursday night they had to play most of the game without their top player at the Tacoma Dome.
Despite all that, Auburn won 45-42 in a state tournament quarterfinal matchup against Eastside Catholic of Sammamish, one of the hottest teams in the state.
Things looked bleak for Auburn in the first quarter when it trailed by six points early and lost Jaylen Petty, the North Puget Sound League 3A player of the year, with a right knee injury with about two minutes left in the third quarter.
But the fourth-seeded Trojans controlled much of the game without him, never trailing in the second half.
No. 3 seed Eastside Catholic (19-9) trailed 39-30 early in the fourth quarter, but pulled to 41-40 with 2:12 remaining. Auburn responded by scoring the next three points and secured the win when the Crusaders missed two three-point tries in the final six seconds while trailing by three.
“That was for (Petty), definitely, and it was for the city,” said Auburn junior guard Lukens Valcin, who had nine points and seven rebounds. “(Petty) went out and you know, it was just like, ‘We’ve got to do this for him. We’ve got to fight for him.’ So, him going down just gave us more of a goal mindset.”
Auburn (21-6) lost its top four top players from last year’s team to graduation. But with some returners stepping up along with the addition of Petty, a sophomore transfer guard from Rainier Beach, the Trojans made it back to the Tacoma Dome with a late-season surge.
The Trojans had won 13 straight games before a 63-61 loss to O’Dea in a regional game.
“I’ve just got a group of really tough, competitive, hard-nosed kids,” said Auburn coach Ryan Hansen. “We have a high standard and these kids want to live up to the standard that was set before them. Man, I’m just so proud of the way they competed.
“They’ve got Auburn across their chest and they take a lot of pride in that.”
Eastside Catholic was 12-8 at the end of January, then won seven straight games coming into this week (which included winning the Metro League and SeaKing District titles), including a pair of victories over Garfield, which was 18-0 before the first loss to the Crusaders.
They looked like they might continue that roll, going on an 8-0 run after Auburn scored the first basket. But the Trojans responded with a 10-4 run to end the period in a 12-12 deadlock.
Auburn took a 21-20 lead at halftime after Eastside Catholic scored the first five points of the second quarter.
It was clear when Petty had to be helped off the court at halftime that he would not be returning.
Still, Auburn extended the lead to 37-30 at the end of the third quarter. Perhaps the only negative of the period for the Trojans was Eastside Catholic’s Jacob Cofie, a highly touted 6-foot-9 junior, scoring right before the buzzer.
Semaj Brown had 12 points to lead Auburn and Tyrell Nichols had 11.
Nate Krohn scored 10 to lead Eastside Catholic. Cofie, ranked the No. 2 prospect in the state in the 2024 class by 247Sports.com, had five points and 13 rebounds before fouling out in the final minute.
Auburn will play No. 2 Garfield in a Friday night semifinal at 9 p.m. The Bulldogs knocked No. 16 Shorecrest, which upset Rainier Beach on Wednesday, into the consolation bracket 71-60.
It will be a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal, which Auburn, the No. 2 seed last year, beat No. 1 Garfield in overtime, 64-60.
Hansen said it’s possible Petty could be able to play.
“I talked to the PT, and they said that his meniscus flipped,” Hansen said. “It kind of like flipped inside and they’re trying to work it so that gets back to where it lays flat. They said if it gets there, he should be good to go. So hopefully, we’ll get him back.”