Basketball runs in his blood.

Byline: Matt Castello

AUBURN - Ask an athlete why he picked a particular jersey number and you'll generally get an indifferent shoulder shrug or maybe "It's my lucky number" as a response. Ask Auburn High senior Dalton Goodrich and it's a different story. "Long story. Old Hall of Famer, from the Lakers, Gail Goodrich ..."

So it appears the 17-year-old Auburn resident has a sense of history.

"He's in the family tree. He was number 25."

Or you could say he's related to a player who had his number retired by the Los Angeles Lakers and UCLA.

Dalton has kept in touch with the former John Wooden pupil through letters and e-mail. It's unclear how the two are related, although Dalton believes he's a great-uncle on his dad's side. While Gail, who won two titles under Wooden at UCLA, has not been an instrumental figure in developing Dalton's basketball skills, he does serve as a role model for the 6-foot-2 senior, who was averaging a career high 16.3 points per game through 17 games.

The state of the Rockets basketball team forced Goodrich to take on more responsibility this winter. Two players expected to start did not play for various reasons and senior Jon Leroux, the team's leading scorer last season, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second game of the year.

"Last year he was more of a role player," coach Andrew Niedzwiecki said. "This year he's picked it up to be our leading scorer."

Goodrich credits much of his improvement to his time spent in Orlando, Fla., where he moved after seventh grade. He attended Freedom High as a freshman and sophomore and played on the junior varsity team with "the best of the best," as he put it. Before his junior year, he moved back to Auburn.

While Niedzwiecki appoints team captains on a rotating basis, Goodrich is an "unofficial" team captain, according to his coach.

"He leads by example," Niedzwiecki said. "He comes in, he works hard every day. He tries to get the guys going by showing how to play hard."

Goodrich has played this season with a brace on his left knee because of "jumper's knee," caused by overuse of the patellar tendon, and, more recently, a brace of his right ankle after he suffered a high ankle sprain in a 71-63 win over Oxford on Feb. 2.

"It's pain all the time, but only got two games left in my career," he said after defeating Grafton on Feb. 9.

The Rockets (6-12) have been in a great position to win numerous close games, but have lost six contests by 5 points or fewer. Goodrich has had some great individual efforts, however, including a 34-point outburst in an overtime loss to Bartlett on Jan. 2.

"In that game he was able to create shots inside the paint and finish every single time," said Niedzwiecki, who considers the game to be Goodrich's most dominant performance. "He goes on spurts where he can get three or four baskets in a row. Against Bartlett, that whole third quarter (23 points) we just went to him every single time and he was able to finagle himself around the basket and get some hoops."

Goodrich would like to play basketball in college and is assessing his options. He is hoping to major in math and, one day, become a math teacher at his alma mater - where he would help coach basketball, of course.

NAME: AUBURN HIGH SCHOOL

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Auburn's Dalton Goodrich during a game against Grafton. Goodrich is averaging 15.1 points per game.

PHOTOG: ALEX WITKOWICZ