He has had sparse playing minutes throughout the season and at times has been forced to fight through foul trouble.

Tuesday night, however, everything turned up golden for Auburn Riverside’s Dustin Hegge. Hegge, a junior guard, came off the bench to light up Kentlake for a season-high 19 points, leading the Ravens past the Falcons 76-61 in a pivotal South Puget Sound League North Division basketball game.

The sharpshooting junior came into the night having scored 18 points in his last six games combined.

“I’m really proud of his path this year because it hasn’t been easy,” said Auburn Riverside coach Tom Adams. “He’s had some tough goes of it. Inconsistent minutes, sometimes he’s in foul trouble. The great thing is, he can now realize he’s mentally tough. When pushed, he’ll push back with determination and making plays.”

And Hegge did just that Tuesday night, adding seven rebounds and connecting on 11 of 13 from the free-throw line.

Not a bad night for AR’s sixth man.

“It’s just a role for me,” said Hegge, whose previous high was 18 points against Federal Way on Dec. 5.

But on this night, Hegge was far from alone. Ryan Rogers delivered a game-high 21 points, including Auburn Riverside’s first eight of the night. Nine different Ravens scored at least one point.

The win proved vital for the Ravens (7-8 in league, 10-9 overall) as it helped them clinch the fifth-and-final playoff berth from the North. An Auburn Riverside loss would have created a two-way tie with Kentlake for the No. 5 seed to the playoffs. The win coupled with Jefferson’s loss to Kentridge on Tuesday night officially sealed the deal for the Ravens. Had Jefferson upset Kentridge, there would have been a possibility of a three-way tie, thus keeping Kentlake’s postseason hopes alive.

After the win, Adams finally was able to relax.

“Sense of relief? Absolutely,” he said. “I am very proud of the kids. This was hard.”

Indeed it was. Because all season, the Ravens have shown they can hang with the top-tier teams in the league, losing close battles to Kentwood (65-62), Kentridge (52-50) and Auburn (67-66).

Tuesday night, however, the Ravens got over the bump.

Rogers sparked the Ravens to a 26-11 first-quarter lead with 11 points in the first eight minutes. Auburn Riverside also connected on 5 of 5 from 3-point land — from five different players as well — in the opening quarter.

“Our depth was really good tonight,” Adams noted. “I loved our energy early. I thought we played with tremendous focus.”

The Ravens got 34 points off their bench alone.

Kentlake (6-9 in league, 8-10 overall) simply couldn’t match Auburn Riverside’s intensity. The Falcons turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter and connected on just 3 of 13 from 3-point land. All three of Kentlake’s 3-pointers came in the final quarter, when Auburn Riverside had the game well in hand.

“We came out flat. I don’t know (why),” said Kentlake coach Ron Charrier. “We discussed not getting out to a slow start. We discussed coming out with intensity and playing hard the entire game. And we came out flat and they took it to us.”

Getting off to the hot start was key for the Ravens.

“It was the most important thing,” Rogers said. “We came back from a loss to Thomas Jefferson that was pretty upsetting, so we had to come out hard and strong and really put it up.”

The Ravens did just that, clinching their third straight postseason berth. And they can thank a big performance from their first guy off the bench for helping to get it done.