As witnessed by the ball he received prior to Friday’s game commemorating his 2000th career point, Auden Slaughter is an offensive gamechanger.
During Santa Fe’s District 10-A opener against visiting Culleoka, the junior proved equally disruptive on the other end of the floor.
After the visitors’ Eli Hardison went off for 22 second-quarter points, Slaughter drew the second-half assignment of slowing him down.
Hardison’s next basket came with 2:13 remaining in the contest, as the Wildcats rallied from a six-point halftime deficit for a 64-50 victory.
“After he got hot, I know I can defend a guy like that,” said Slaughter, who scored a game-high 35 points. “I knew I had to slow him down.
“We agree that defense is the most important thing. The reason we won by 14 is our defense.”
Defense wasn’t a problem for Santa Fe (14-1, 1-0) in a 22-9 start, but Hardison absolutely took over the contest in the second period, scoring all but three of Culleoka’s points as the Warriors went up 34-28 at the break.
“When you’ve got teammates that trust you, they continued to get me the ball, and the coaches trust me to take those shots,” said Hardison, who hit six of his eight 3-pointers in the quarter. “Shooters shoot. I found my groove.”
Slaughter found his own groove in the second half, scoring 21 points – including six in an 11-0 fourth-quarter spurt – and focusing on Hardison to help the Wildcats regain control of the contest.
“They picked the (defensive) intensity up, put Auden on Eli,” Culleoka coach Mike Lovett said. “And we had some ‘bunnies’ we missed. Offensive rebounds hurt us in the second half. We give up four offensive rebounds and Auden gets a 3 – that’s never a good defensive (possession).
“They’ve got that experience of finishing out games that we’ve been working on. All I was asking was that we show up and compete. I think we showed we can compete with anybody in the district.”
Santa Fe coach Brad Slaughter wasn’t surprised by the manner in which the game developed – though Hardison’s emergence as the offensive catalyst for Culleoka (7-9, 0-1) did take him aback.
“That’s as hot as I’ve ever had a kid get against me,” he said. “Auden did a good job of turning that around in the second half.
“When teams know each other as well as we and Culleoka do, we didn’t expect anything but a tough game. Starting 1-0 (in district play) was all we wanted to do.”
As pivotal as the younger Slaughter’s 35 points – or his defensive presence – were, his eight assists also played a part in Santa Fe continuing its early-season success. Andrew Graves finished with 13 points and Macon Adkison 11, both benefiting from Slaughter feeds.
“I was able to get my teammates involved,” said Slaughter, who visited with Alabama-Birmingham assistant coach Philip Pearson following the contest. “I’m proud of how we did.”
• Karlie Jones knocked down a 3-pointer to open the second quarter, giving Culleoka a three-point lead, and the visitors pulled away to a 52-29 victory over Santa Fe in the girls’ matchup.
Jones finished with a game-high 17 points, including five 3s, as the ‘Lady Devils’ improved to 6-9 (1-0).
“Defensively, we were connected, and Karlie hit some big 3s at the right time – timely 3s,” Culleoka coach Catherine Upshaw said. “It wasn’t just Maci (McKennon). It was everybody.
“We talk about how good they can be. We have all the confidence in the world in them. They’ve got to have it in themselves.”
McKennon, who reached the 1,000-point milestone earlier this season, scored 15 points and Kendall Reischman 10 in the win.
“We felt pretty good going in,” McKennon said. “We watched a lot of film, we knew who did what.”
Kendall Massey scored nine of Santa Fe’s 10 first-quarter points, on three 3s, but went scoreless the rest of the night. Chaslyn Stewart scored a team-high 11 points for the Lady Wildcats (6-9, 0-1), who managed just six points in the second and third periods combined.
“When you’re not making shots, you’ve got to do other things,” Santa Fe coach John Wild said. “I think we need to get a lot tougher – box out tougher, go to the offensive glass, grab balls with two hands, get on the floor (for loose balls). All that is ‘toughness’, and we’ve got to get it and get it quickly.
“They played hard, they competed harder, they were tougher. They did all the intangible things to win the game.”
Culleoka girls 52, Santa Fe 29
C 10 10 13 19 – 52
S 10 4 2 13 – 29
Culleoka (52) – Kennedy Kloke 2, Karlie Jones 17, Kendall Reischman 10, Emilee Rochester 2, Maci McKennon 15, Izzy Hargrove 4, Andee Kelley 2
Santa Fe (29) – Chaslyn Stewart 11, Lily Dodge 5, Kendall Massey 9, Nora Kate Butt 4
3-pointers – Culleoka 6 (Jones 5, Hargrove), Santa Fe 7 (Stewart 2, Dodge, Massey 3, Butt)
Santa Fe boys 64, Culleoka 50
C 9 25 6 10 – 50
S 22 6 15 21 – 64
Culleoka (50) – Kasen Hoffman 7, Eli Hardison 28, Dalton Owens 8, Bob Holt 2, Parker McDonald 2, Isaac Hargrove 3
Santa Fe (64) – Austin Hazlett 5, Andrew Graves 13, Macon Adkison 11, Auden Slaughter 35
3-pointers – Culleoka 10 (Hoffman, Hardison 8, Hargrove), Santa Fe 4 (Hazlett, Slaughter 3)
Loading Related Articles