AUBURN, Wash. — The Auburn Trojans boy's basketball team is on a mission. They're going after a third straight North Puget Sound League (NPSL) crown and want to prove they can hang with the likes of Garfield and O'Dea at the state tournament.
"The metros are always overlooking the smaller towns and stuff, but it's nice when we can finally like go out and compete with those bigger schools and put a name for Auburn," said Auburn senior Kaden Hansen.
What will it take to get there?
"We talk about the three T's: toughness, talent, and teammates," said coach Ryan Hansen.
The Trojans feature four seniors who have been teammates for a while: Tre Blassingame, Maleek Airington, Dae'Kwon Watson, and Kaden Hansen.
Kaden Hansen said he and Watson have played together since second grade, Airington joined in fifth grade, and Tre in seventh.
"We just know each other so well and how we play. Being the point guard, that's big for me, to know where Caden wants to shoot from. So, to be able to have that chemistry because we've been playing with each other since ABA days and you know, it's just fun," said Maleek Airington.
The four seniors all average double figures in scoring, but their stats don't tell the entire story.
"Our leadership is so good right now and they have all the intangibles. They're all great students, they're great citizens and they do everything that we ask," said coach Hansen.
Not only is his team loaded with four seniors that will all play college ball next year, but the head coach was a pretty good player, too. He was the state's all-time leading scorer from 1992 to 1995, played at Eastern Washington, and still has got it.
"I knew he could shoot a little bit back in the day, but he still tries to shoot. He's out here trying to shoot with us, but we're like, 'get out of here, you're too old,'" said Blassingame.
Watson said in a pre-practice shooting content, his coach beat him 42-0.
"I don't know how he does it. He can be in his coaching outfit and he still hits five three-pointers in a row," said Airington.
In January of 2000, coach Hansen had the college shot of the year. Hansen made a 55-foot game-winning shot at the buzzer to help Eastern Washington beat Idaho State.
"I like to call it lucky," said Hansen.
But what's not lucky -- the success he's found coaching.
In 20 years, he's won six league titles and led his team into the postseason 18 years, but, more importantly, he's helped change lives for the better.
It was coach Hansen that named Bobby Vogel as Auburn's honorary basketball team manager. A job Bobby did with pride for over 19 years, until he passed away at the age of 78 in September.
"Our guys really want to go out and do something special in his honor and his memory. Bobby loved this team, he loved these guys, and you know they loved him back. He was a part of our family, so we're trying to do some special for him," said coach Hansen.