As 17-seed, Lincoln's momentous basketball ride continues in Tacoma Dome
TACOMA — The Lincoln High School boys basketball team will be back in the Tacoma Dome on Thursday afternoon.
The Abes, at the tournament site just 1.3 miles from their home gym for the first time since 2020, went on a stunning 26-9 run in the fourth quarter here Wednesday to make sure of it.
“We had to win,” Lincoln guard LaVhanta Sandling-Green said. “We had to put on for Tacoma. We couldn’t lose.”
Trailing during much of their Class 3A state tournament first-round, loser-out contest against top-seeded Auburn, Lincoln, the bracket’s No. 17 seed, rallied late to shock the Trojans, 60-56, and move on to the quarterfinals.
The win is the biggest seeding upset in the WIAA seeding committee era, which began in 2017.
It also continues a recent streak for the Abes, who have now won four consecutive loser-out games — against Gig Harbor in the 3A District 3/4 tournament, Lake Washington in a regional play-in game, West Seattle in last week’s regional round and now Auburn — to keep their season going.
“It’s special,” Lincoln coach Ryan Rogers said. “We told the kids that today’s not our last game. We’ve been saying it in all these loser-out games. It’s not our last opportunity together. Kids are just buying in that if you put in the work that you reap the reward.
“So, if you go out there and you try to outwork the other team, you execute, you defend, you do all the little things — that good things will happen to you. And kids didn’t give up. They kept playing.”
Meeting for the second time this month — Auburn topped Lincoln in the first round of the district tournament, 80-71, on the way to a title — the two programs exchanged the lead early, but a basket from Carter Hansen with 1:52 left in the second quarter gave the Trojans the lead much of the rest of the way.
They took a 26-25 advantage into the halftime break, and led by as many as 14 in the opening moments of the fourth on a 3-pointer from Daniel Johnson.
“We talk about in practice that you just have to start building stops and then start executing on offense,” Rogers said. “So, a stop a score, a stop a score, a stop a score. So, instead of just trying to get them all back at once, it’s just one possession at a time.
“And once we started doing that, the dominos just started falling and kids just started believing more and more and more.”
The Abes went on a 16-2 run over the next four minutes to tie the score at 52-52 on a basket by Omarion Boston. Jaylen Petty answered for Auburn on the next possession, but Boston responded again to even the score with 2:50 left.
Auburn led once more on another basket from Petty with 1:22 to play, but Lincoln closed on a 6-0 run in the final minute to advance.
Sandling-Green hit what turned out to be the game-winning 3-pointer with 56 seconds left, giving Lincoln a 57-56 advantage.
“It started on defense, really,” Sandling-Green said of the Abes’ late rally. “At Lincoln, we praise defense, and defense had our back in that last quarter. It opened (up) for us for shots to get through.”
Auburn turned the ball over on the next possession, and on the ensuing in-bounds pass, Lincoln freshman Oshea Lamar got loose behind the Trojans’ defense for a quick layup with 18 seconds left to push the lead to 59-56.
After an Auburn miss and foul, Lamar hit the first of two free throws to extend the lead to four with 6.8 to go, and Lincoln celebrated at midcourt moments later.
“I just wanted to make one so they couldn’t hit a three and tie,” Lamar said. “I really wanted to win.”
Boston led all scorers with 21 points for Lincoln, while Sandling-Green had 15 and Dairius Dillard had 12 and eight rebounds.
Petty paced Auburn with 16 points, while Luvens Valcin had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Hansen added 12 points.
Following 3A NPSL and 3A District 3/4 championships, Auburn’s season ends at 24-3 following a regionals loss to No. 8 seed North Central last week, and the loss to Lincoln on Wednesday.
Lincoln (21-5), now in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2018, moves on to play No. 2 seed Eastside Catholic (20-6) at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Tacoma Dome.
“It’s a big game,” Sandling-Green said. “We’ve got to step up and be ready to play.”
