The final play didn’t go down the way it was drawn up.

With just a handful of seconds left on the clock and No. 2 Kentridge leading No. 6 Auburn 70-68, Kevin Henderson was supposed to drive to the basket and either draw a foul, score or dump it off to an open teammate to give the Trojans a chance to send the game into overtime.

But all that changed in the heat of the final seconds of a crucial South Puget Sound League North 4A regular-season game Tuesday at the Auburn High gym.

“I was coming down the lane and I heard my coach saying, ‘Shoot, shoot, shoot,’ so I went up for the shot and it happened to go in,” said Henderson, a senior bound next season for the University of Montana.

With two Chargers, including senior Gary Bell, draped over him, Henderson pulled off an off-balance 3-point shot from the wing that went in at the 1.9-second mark, giving the Trojans the clutch win.

Auburn improved to 11-3 in league, 15-3 overall, while Kentridge dropped to 12-3 and 14-5.

“I’ve seen Kevin make that shot a bunch of times,” Auburn coach Kevin Hansen said. “He’s a great player and he made a great play.

“I have all the confidence in the world in these guys. I just had a feeling that he was going to knock that shot down,” Hansen added. “It wasn’t anything that we had drawn up for him, it was just a great player making a great play.”

The Trojans came out of the gate hot, building a 43-33 halftime lead, with Henderson leading with the way with 16 first-half points.

“I thought we played really well. I think we played well defensively in the first half,” Hansen said.

The loss spoiled a spectacular night for Kentridge’s Bell. The Gonzaga-bound senior guard, who scored 19 points in the first half, picked up the pace scoring 22 in the second half to finish with a game-high 41.

“I thought we played well defensively in the second half. Gary Bell is just that good,” Hansen said of the Chargers’ 6-foot-2 star.

“We played a great second half, and I’m real proud of that,” Kentridge coach Dave Jamison said. “The first half, they were just more aggressive.”

The Chargers gained their first lead of the game with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, going up 66-65.

Bell added two points with a minute left to put Kentridge up 68-65.

Auburn notched the next three points in the game, with Henderson hitting a basket and Daniel Wunder hitting one of two free throws.

Bell brought the score to 70-68, with the Trojans calling timeout at the 9.8-second mark to draw up a play.

As play resumed, Hansen gave Henderson the go-ahead.

“Once I saw it in Kevin’s eyes, I started yelling for him to pull it. I knew we were going to get that shot,” Hansen said. “He just had that look in his eyes like he was going to win the game for us.”

Added Bell: “He’s a good player. Good players make good shots.”

Henderson finished the game with 26 points. Iszia Johnson added 17.

Brendan Westendorf scored 12 points for the Chargers.

Auburn closes out its regular season with games against Auburn Riverside (7-6, 8-9) on Friday and Kent-Meridian (8-6, 11-8) on Tuesday. Tipoff is 7:30 each night.

The Chargers play Mount Rainier (7-7, 10-8) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Should the teams finish tied, they will share the league title and play Feb. 10 to determine seeding into the SPSL tournament.