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Monday, February 17, 2025

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Auburn Knocks Off Seattle Prep To Earn Spot In Boys 3A Championship Game

By RayJaun Stelly, The Seattle Medium

With both teams coming off impressive quarter final wins in the WIAA state 3A boys basketball tournament, Seattle Prep and Auburn squared off to see who would advance to the state championship game. The Panthers with Braden Smith, Christian King, and Tyler Mrus looked to lead their team to a win against Auburn’s Tre Blassingame, Maleek Arington, Kaden Hansen, and Dae’Kwon Watson.

What fans thought was going to be a high scoring game was the complete opposite, the game was scoreless for two minutes after the opening tipoff before Mrus broke the ice with a jump shot. Following Mrus’ basket, King followed up with a three-pointer to give the Panthers a 5-0 lead. Auburn’s Blassingame broke the dry spell by knocking down a three-point shot.

After Blassingame’s three-pointer, Arington answered with a three-pointer of his own and Semaj Brown’s jumper gave Auburn a brief one-point lead before Seattle Prep’s Smith made a jump shot to give the Panthers a 9-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was also a low-scoring affair. Auburn scored courtesy of Blassingame, Luvens Valcin, and Brown. While the Panthers’ Dylan Hoffman, King, Mrus and Smith poured in minimal points for Seattle Prep as well, resulting in the Panthers leading 17-14 heading into halftime.

Unphased by the slow pace of the game, Auburn took control of the second half as Blassingame would initiate a momentum changing run. After scoring the Trojans’ first points of the half, Blassingame found Brown for a layup, Hansen would hit an open three-pointer, Arington scored a layup, and Tyrell Nichols capped off the run with a three-pointer forcing the Panthers to take a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout Smith scored immediately for Seattle Prep, but Nichols answered with a wide-open layup of his own, which gave Auburn an 31-23 lead going into the fourth.

On the defensive end of the court, the Trojans continuously forced Seattle Prep to take difficult jump shots, and did not allow them very many second chance opportunities. Ultimately, this would be the tale of the second half.

The fourth quarter began just like the first quarter, with neither team scoring within the first two minutes. Mrus finally broke the ice when he made a free throw. Following the free throw, Auburn began another run with Blassingame hitting a floater and Hansen making yet another three-pointer.

Seattle Prep responded by scoring seven points. But as the time began to dwindle down, Arington and Hansen took over to secure Auburn’s win. The duo would go on to score their teams final nine points, which ultimately gave them a 45-34 victory as the final horn sounded off.

Maleek Arington led all scorers with 12 points, Blassingame had 9, Hansen and Nichols both had 8 to lead the Trojans. The four combined for 37 of Auburn’s 45 total points.

Smith led Seattle Prep in scoring with 11 points, Mrus had 9, and King contributed 7.

With the win, Auburn, coming off an upset win over the number one seeded Garfield Bulldogs, defeated their second straight Metro League opponent, and advanced to the championship game where they will face another Metro League powerhouse in the Rainier Beach Vikings.