It’s a scene that’s played out time and time again for Adna senior boys basketball player Aaron Aselton.
An opposing ball-handler drives into the paint. Aselton slides in front of their path, takes the contact and yells “Hey!” as the ball-handler crashes into him and he falls backward onto the hardwood floor.
More often than not, the official blows their whistle, calls an offensive charge and Aselton pulls himself to his feet, yelling in celebration with his teammates and the Pirates’ student section.
In this day and age, where every highlight clip on social media is a dunk, a crazy crossover or a deep 3-pointer, Aselton just wants to see how many charges he can take every single game.
And he’s not just good at it — he's one of the best in the nation. Aselton, who's listed on the roster as a guard but spends most of his time patrolling the paint, is taking charges at an astronomical level.
He’s averaging nearly as many charges per game as points. He not only leads the state in charges taken — by a wide margin — he has taken the fourth-most charges per-game this season of any high school boys basketball player in the nation, according to MaxPreps.
He currently sits at 56 charges in 24 games (2.3 per game) after racking up five alone in a district playoff win over Napavine on Feb. 19. The next closest is Auburn Mountainview’s Ryder Alfrey, who has 41 in 20 games (2.1 per game). His career-high of six came in a win over previously-unbeaten Ilwaco on Jan. 17.
Being ranked nationally in any statistic is a remarkable feat for any high school player, but even more so for a kid from a rural Washington school that has around 170 high schoolers.
Even more, Aselton hasn’t been training to take charges for years; in fact, he didn’t even start taking it seriously until his junior season in early 2021.
“My junior year, I made it a point,” Aselton said. “But I really took off (summer 2021) and started getting multiple per game. This carried into the season and I built good habits to where I practically mastered it.”
At the beginning of this season, he knew he was taking them but wasn’t keeping count. It wasn’t until one of his friends checked MaxPreps stats.
“He told me, ‘Hey, you’re first in the state,’” Aselton said. “I’m like, ‘Holy cow, like, this is legit.’ Then all the sudden I was 10th in the nation, then I kept climbing and getting more charges and more charges. I never thought I would be nationally-ranked in anything.”
It’s an aspect of the game not many players at any level, let alone high schoolers, put much focus or effort into. But for Aselton, who Pirate coach Luke Salme admits likely wouldn’t be a starter if he wasn’t so adept at taking charges, he’s turned charge-taking into a badge of honor. He only averages 3.3 points per game, but his charge-taking prowess has become priceless.
And though it is a skill, Salme said, something that takes a high IQ of the game to pull off routinely, the majority of it is due to a willingness to sacrifice himself, oftentimes against much larger players.
“Anybody can take a charge, it’s just having the will to do it,” Aselton said. “You have to put your body on the line. Really, it’s all just a timing thing. I just have to make sure I don’t set up too early so it catches them by surprise. I love defense and any way I can help my team, I’d be honored.”
For Aselton, he puts his 6-foot, 145-pound frame on the line against some of the most imposing basketball players in the state. He’s let Morton-White Pass’ 6-foot-7, 290-pound center Josh Salguero crash into him. He was instrumental in getting Napavine center Keith Olson, a 6-foot-6, 290-pound University of Utah football commit, fouled out with four minutes left in Feb. 19’s playoff win over the Tigers.
Salme estimates Aselton has only been called for a block less than 10 times, and there are 15 other instances where he’s watched filmed and Aselton didn’t get a charge called when he probably should have.
He has become so good at taking charges that opposing teams have learned to game-plan against him.
“We’ve seen it,” Salme said. “Two games ago, he was so frustrated because he didn’t take a charge against Morton-White Pass. He couldn’t believe it. I’m like, ‘Aaron, guess what? You’re now on the scouting report, and you are something other opponents are practicing.
“Either they’re realizing they can’t drive if Aselton is in the paint, or they better come to a two-foot jump stop every time they do it or he’s going to take a charge.”
MWP is the only team this season that Aselton failed to garner one charge against. Timberwolves coach Chad Cramer said he wanted his team to be aware of where Aselton was at all times when he was defending them, and what offensive moves to use when he set up for a charge.
“It was something we discussed a lot leading into our game with Adna,” Cramer said. “Aaron has a very selfless skill, and it’s a skill that allows you to be an emotional leader as well. We wanted to stay away from momentum plays like that.”
Aselton usually guards a non-shooter on the opposing team, so he can help off when their star player beats one of Adna’s defenders and slashes into the lane. That player doesn’t meet a rim-protecting Pirate center, instead he meets the lithe Aselton, who ends up being even more dreadful to face.
“The offense always has to worry about me,” Aselton said. “If they’re scouting us, that’s something in the back of their heads. They have to be careful when they drive. They have to jump-stop because they can’t come in there 100 miles per hour.”
In fact, the Pirates don’t even have a true center. Their tallest player is 6-foot-3 and three more players check in at 6-1. In turn, Aselton has become the Pirates’ rim-proctor.
Salme estimates 90% of Aselton’s charges come from being a help-side defender. But his rise to the top of the nation comes from a combination of factors, Salme said, which include basketball IQ, attitude, mentality and selflessness to provide what has become a critical role for the state-qualifying Pirates.
“He knows he’s not the most gifted scorer or basketball player, but his heart and brain make up for those deficiencies,” Salme said. “He’s at the point now where, I’m in my 20th year coaching, he’s doubled the most charges I’ve ever seen taken in a season.”
At the beginning of the season, when Aselton began racking up multiple charges a game, he asked Salme if he had taken the most of anyone he had coached. Salme told him about Trevor Houser, who he coached at Olympia High School in 2012 and who he thought might have had more than Aselton.
Salme then took a group of his Pirate players up to Olympia to watch a game a few weeks ago and looked at the record board. Houser had taken 29 in one season. Aselton currently has 56.
“It absolutely is an art — and you don’t see it anywhere else,” Salme said. “Think of how many games you go to and you don’t see a charge taken. Aaron’s taken six in a game, five in a game twice and four in multiple games.
“The coolest thing is, you don’t see many high schoolers willing to do that now. It’s kind of like a dying art, which makes it even more special.”
Aselton’s willingness to put his body on the line provides the Pirates not only a foul on an opposing player and possession, but it gives his team, fans and the student section an emotional and momentum lift as well.
“It’s a huge energy booster,” Aselton said. “Everybody loves it and I love it. There’s nothing like it. It’s just expected out of me. My teammates expect it out of me. When I take one, it’s like, ‘Let’s go. This is it.’ I’m going for the top. I’m going for No. 1.”
Now, Aselton will take his skill into the regional playoffs when the No. 7 Pirates face-off against No. 2 Liberty (Spangle) at 2 p.m., Saturday, at University High School in Spokane.
