No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Garfield meet for championship of inaugural Hardwood Invite

AUBURN - The matchup most likely hoped would materialize when the participants for the inaugural Hardwood Invite boys basketball tournament were announced came to fruition on Monday night at Auburn High School.

The championship game Tuesday (8:30 p.m.) will pit the host and undefeated Trojans from Auburn against the undefeated Class 3A defending champions from Garfield.

"I think this is the game that people wanted to see," Auburn coach Ryan Hansen said. "We’re excited for the opportunity."

The Trojans earned their way into the title game with an 80-74 victory over a relentless O’Dea squad. Garfield came from behind, erasing a deficit that grew as large as nine points early in the third quarter, to finally get away from South Medford (Ore.), 63-50.

Here are four combined takeaways from the Garfield-South Medford and Auburn-O'Dea games:

OFFENSE COMES AND GOES …

For the first time in three games, the Garfield Bulldogs struggled shooting the ball during their semifinal victory over South Medford. But the defense kept things in check until they hit a couple of big shots down the stretch to pull away.

The Panthers led this one, 35-28, at the half and still led by two after three quarters, 46-44.

"I knew at some point, we were going to hit a rough spot," Garfield coach Jay Von Nickens said. "I just didn’t know when. We were riding hot. But that’s why we prepare. We just made the adjustment in the second and we were resilient."

… BIG SHOTS STILL HAPPEN

The outcome remained in doubt, even with just over three minutes to play for Garfield. The Bulldogs had opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 51-46 lead before Junior Sleezer made the second of two free throws to halt the burst with 4:16 to go.

The game still was a six-point affair more than a minute later.

But that’s when Tremaine Guidry found some room outside the arc at the left baseline. The ball came, and Guidry raised up, sinking a 3-pointer with 3:08 remaining to extend the Garfield lead to nine, 56-47, and essentially put this one away.

"Just have confidence and shoot," Guidry said. "My coaches always tell me to have confidence and believe in what you do. We work on that. It’s the defense that gets to offense. So we work on that."

YOU SAY YOU’RE UNDEFEATED?

The Trojans all of a sudden are making a habit of handing good teams their first loss of the year.

On Sunday in the tournament quarterfinals, Auburn raced away from Ferris, 84-47, to get into the semifinals, dropping the Saxons to 6-1. O’Dea also entered the tournament unbeaten and won its first two games to earn a semifinal spot.

Auburn seemingly took control of the semifinal with 6:37 to go in the third quarter, when a Tre Blassingame basket extended the lead to 50-34.

The Irish refused to go away, however. Then, when Quincy Linton made consecutive 3-pointers midway into the fourth quarter, and Owen Moriarity scored six down the stretch, O’Dea eventually closed the gap to 77-74 with 1:05 to go.

"They’re a great team," Hansen said. "They’re tough defensively. Fortunately, we were able to get to the free throw line and knock them down."

O’Dea had a possession on which it could have tied the game in the final minute, but a travelling call turned the ball back to Auburn with just over 14 seconds remaining. Forced to foul, the Irish put Caden Hansen on the free throw line and the senior made both to essentially seal the victory.

CARRYING THE LOAD

Other than those game-clinching free throws, Hansen had a tough night shooting the ball. He made only three field goals all night, the last his only 3-pointer that went down with 6:03 to go in the third quarter.

Maleek Arington made sure it didn’t matter. The senior wing put the Trojans on his back offensively in the second half, and finished with a game-high 30 points.

"All our guys got into foul trouble early," Arington said. "So I felt like I had to step up and score the ball, honestly. I’m usually like the facilitator, and I had to step up and play a big part in this tough ‘Dub’ that we got."

(Featured photos by Vince Miller)