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AUBURN – This was what a game featuring two of the best boys basketball programs in the state should feel like – at least on the court.

In front of a sold-out crowd of some 2,500 spectators at Auburn High School, the host Trojans and Garfield Bulldogs pursued each other physically and intenesly for 32 minutes of the championship game in the inaugural Hardwood Invite on Tuesday night.

Auburn got in front early, but the Bulldogs used a 14-point run over the first 4 minutes, 2 seconds of the fourth quarter to wrest away the lead and ultimately the game, 62-53, from the Trojans.

"It feels amazing, man," Garfield coach Jay Von Nickens said. "We knew Auburn was pretty good."

Here are four takeaways from the Garfield-Auburn game:

ALL FIRED UP

Garfield trailed 44-37 entering the fourth quarter, but began that period with some extra fire after a foul call on guard Koren Johnson with just two-tenths of a second on the clock as the third quarter ended that ultimately led to five Auburn free throws.

Johnson’s foul was called as Tyrell Nichols attempted an off-balance three-quarter court heave as the third was ending. Nichols was awarded three free throws, but missed two of them.

Just before he went to the line, Jazel Brown was whistled for a technical foul on Garfield. That sent Dae’Kwon Watson to the line after Nichols, but he made just one of the two free shots.

PLAYING THROUGH THE PAIN

The sequence seemed to add yet another step of intensity to the Bulldogs' game. Inside, Sherrell McCullum took over on the offensive glass as the fourth commenced.

McCullum had a variety of putbacks en route to scoring eight of his 20 points during the decisive run, despite playing with a dislocated thumb suffered earlier this year and reinjured during Garfield’s semifinal win over South Medford on Monday.

"Just gotta play through it," McCullum said. "Playing through it gets us this. Playing through it gets us that (a ring, he pointed to)."

INTENSITY BOILS OVER INTO DANGEROUS TERRITORY

Things turned ugly long after the final whistle and even after the tournament awards ceremony was over. Many from among the sold-out crowd remained even 20-30 minutes later.

That’s when an altercation allegedly broke out, and someone saw a gun appear. A moment later, students and parents were screaming and running down a hall away from the gymnasium.

A spectator rushing by said there was a fight and "a gun."

Nobody appeared to get hurt. Auburn police arrived quickly with weapons drawn, and raced into the gym as spectators were ushered by coaches and officials into classrooms. The scene was cleared quickly, and as more police started to arrive to completely "clear" the building, most everyone was either off or leaving the premises.

ELECTRIC ATMOSPHERE BEFORE THE DANGER

Even as the third-fourth place game won by O’Dea earlier in the day was concluding, the gym was filling up. The buzz was akin to a March state final more than a pre-Christmas non-league contest.

"It was very intense," Watson said. "That’s probably the first time I’ve been in a crowd like that. We were just talking about it in the locker room. That’s probably the biggest crowd we’ve ever seen. We tried to come out and just play like we play and do what we do."

Auburn’s vaunted offense had trouble scoring over the first half, but Watson picked up a bit of the slack by scoring eight of his 13 points in the first 16 minutes as the Trojans snuck into the locker room at halftime with a 20-18 lead.

Come the third quarter, Caden Hansen found his touch and scored 13 of his team-high 20 during a 24-point period to stake the Trojans to that lead entering the fourth. But then McCullum had his run, and Johnson made eight consecutive free throws down the stretch to ensure the title victory, finishing with a game-high 27 points.

(Featured photo by Vince Miller)