Balanced Trojans: Auburn's offense with the right moves in win over South County

AUBURN — Through three quarters, Friday’s nonconference game between Auburn and South County seemed reminiscent of the Trojans’ 18-point win last week in the Waverly Holiday Tournament.

Though the Vipers didn’t alter the outcome, a fourth-quarter rally buoyed South County and showed coach Bryon Graven some much-needed moxie in Auburn’s 53-47 win at Doglio Gymnasium.

Auburn (14-2 overall) got plenty of looks from its offense and had balanced scoring, with junior Clayton Kessler working the low post to finish 6-for-8 and a team-high 12 points.

Junior Carter Hunley added 11 points, senior Sawyer Smith had 10, senior Grant Dobson had eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds and Jacob Barth, a sophomore, came in off the bench to put in seven points.

“In practice, we’re always looking to make the right play,” Kessler said. “It’s not me or whoever; we’re looking to make the right play every time. We’re a selfless group.

“Anyone can be the leading scorer any given night and no one cares who the leading scorer is. We have so many looks: we can hit 3s, we can get inside; we can do whatever.”

So many options

In the opening period, Auburn’s offense was working the ball into the post and with cutting and constant motion, Kessler — a 6-foot-4 junior — scored six points from the baseline. He had a pair of baseline layups fed by Clayton Dinardo and Dobson then connected on a baseline jumper.

“(Auburn’s) high-low stuff, I thought they connected on a couple of passes that was just a testament to their length,” South County coach Bryon Graven said. “I felt like we were in the position to make a play on the ball; we just didn’t make a play on it. That was (Auburn) positioning their guys correctly and moving accordingly whenever the ball was where it was at. When we got in the half-court set and guarded, we did a good job.”

The Trojans’ offense opened up even more when Smith and Barth each knocked down a 3-pointer in the second quarter to help Auburn outscore South County 14-9 to take a 26-19 halftime lead.

“If you look at our field-goal attempts (by player), from one to four is separated by 10 or 12 attempts and 15, 16 games into a season, that’s kind of incredible,” Auburn coach Seth McCoy said. “We’ve got multiple guys that are super-unselfish that’s all about trying to get the ball to the right area, the right matchup and go to work. It could be one guy’s one night and another guy’s (night the next).

“Tonight, we almost had five guys in double figures. When we’re doing that and moving the ball well, we’re a tough guard.”

Length gives Auburn a boost

Auburn’s pair of 6-4 post players in Kessler and Dobson aren’t just rebounders and scorers; they can facilitate the Trojans’ offense as well.

“People like to bring doubles and (Kessler and Dobson) are willing passers — Grant is a phenomenal passer,” McCoy said. “They’re making the pass and they’re ready to make that cut and get that give-and-go and finish inside. We get the ball to a certain spot and make a team have to do something and we can counter with a lot of different actions.”

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Kessler knows he and Dobson are a good tandem.

“My length helps me a lot: I can get more rebounds, I can give more defense; in 2A, there’s not many people bigger than me and Grant,” Kessler said. “This is the first year we’ve played together but we’ve been practicing together and our high-low is working really well.”

Graven admitted his Vipers are undersized against Auburn — Clark Nelson was South County’s tallest player in the lineup at 6-2 — but he felt the officials were counting slowly to three seconds when Dobson and Kessler were in the lane on offense.

“I joked with the officials, too: I offered a bench chair,” Graven said. “I said, ‘If they’re going to be in the lane that long posting people up, we’ve got plenty of bench chairs over here.’ (The officials) kind of laughed at me but at times I was serious.

“I’m going to try to do everything I can to get (some calls) for my guys because if we’re undersized — which we are about 99% of the time — I’ve got to do something.”

Better effort for Vipers

South County fell behind 41-26 when Kessler scored 23 seconds into the fourth quarter. It was Dec. 28 all over again, it appeared.

But South County (12-6) put together a 7-0 run in 80 seconds to cut Auburn’s lead to eight points and force McCoy to call a timeout. After the Trojans’ lead swelled back to 47-33, the Vipers scored a pair of three-point plays to get back within eight again with 2 minutes, 38 seconds left.

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South County’s leading scorer, Caden Colwell, hit a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to get the Vipers within 50-44. While it wasn’t enough to take a lead, Graven was pleased with that stretch of play.

“The team that we were the last four minutes of that game was the team that we were two weeks before Christmas,” Graven said. “The physicality, the aggressiveness, the chip-on-your-shoulder, the grittiness: that was back.

“I was proud of our effort over the last four minutes. I thought there were some stretches in the first half where we played how we are capable of but there were other stretches we didn’t. We weren’t who we normally are for stretches and those stretches lasted too long — and a lot had to do with (Auburn), too. I’m more concerned about the things that we can control.”

Hunley said he was impressed by how South County battled back.

“They were definitely ready for us; they probably switched up their game plan,” Hunley said. “We followed the game plan. Coach McCoy (and assistant) coach (Kevin) O’Rourke, they give us a really good game plan every week going into every game.”

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.

AT AUBURN

South County 10 9 7 21 — 47

Auburn 12 14 13 14 — 53

SOUTH COUNTY (47) — Caden Colwell 6-9 1-1 15; Bishop McDannald 2-5 0-0 4; Trevor Colwell 4-10 0-1 10; Noah Lyons 4-14 4-7 12; Clark Nelson 1-4 2-2 4; Chase Doughtery 0-3 0-0 0; Chris Duffie 0-1 0-0 0; Gabe Lyons 1-1 0-0 2; Owen Paluska 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-47 7-11 47.

3-point goals: 4-14 (C. Colwell 2-4; T. Colwell 2-3; McDannald 0-2; N. Lyons 0-1; Doughtery 0-3; Duffie 0-1). Rebounds: 27 (N. Lyons 9; Nelson 5; McDannald 3; G. Lyons 2; C. Colwell 1; T. Colwell 1; Team 6). Offensive rebounds: 9 (N. Lyons 3; Nelson 2; McDannald 1; Team 3). Turnovers: 13. Team fouls: 11 (fouled out — none).

AUBURN (53) — Sawyer Smith 4-5 1-2 10; Carter Hunley 3-9 5-9 11; Cooper Carter 2-9 0-0 5; Grant Dobson 4-10 0-0 8; Clayton Kessler 6-8 0-0 12; Clayton Dinardo 0-0 0-0 0; Jacob Barth 3-4 0-0 7. TOTALS: 22-45 6-11 53.

3-point goals: 3-15 (Smith 1-2; Barth 1-2; Carter 1-7). Rebounds: 31 (Dobson 10; Smith 7; Kessler 6; Dinardo 3; Barth 3; Hunley 2; Team 0). Offensive rebounds: 9 (Kessler 4, Dobson 4, Barth 1). Turnovers: 16. Team fouls: 10 (fouled out — none).

Officials: Aaron Lane; Dan Held; Chris Gordon.

Records: South County 12-6; Auburn 14-2.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA boys basketball: Auburn gets open looks to beat South County for second straight week