Lincoln guard Ahmaad Rorie didn’t waste any time getting to know his new teammates.
The junior transfer from Clover Park conducted the Lincoln fastbreak like a maestro Wednesday night, finding teammate Tre’Shaun Fletcher for dunks or pulling up and nailing his own midrange jumpers.
Rorie scored 19 points and Fletcher had 16 in the Abes’ 61-45 victory over Timberline in a Narrows League 3A opener.
“We wanted to make a statement to the league, that we are best,” Rorie said. “I played summer league with (other Lincoln players), so I already knew how they played and stuff.”
No. 2-ranked Lincoln (4-0) caught a break from the referees, who whistled a series of quick fouls on Timberline star Donaven Dorsey. The high-flying junior played just 4 minutes, 46 seconds in the first half while drawing three fouls, and he picked up his fourth foul three minutes into the third quarter.
All of that time on the bench meant Dorsey scored only four points and could do little to affect the game – much to the disappointment of at least two NCAA Division I coaches in the crowd scouting him.
“One of our game plans was to attack him, and make him work on defense, and try to get him in foul trouble,” Lincoln coach Aubrey Shelton said.
Even without Dorsey, Timberline (1-2) trailed by only three points at halftime, 29-26.
Junior guard Tyler Gartner drained three consecutive 3-point shots in the second quarter to keep it close.
“It was a tough one for us tonight,” Timberline coach Allen Thomas said. “I thought the kids actually battled pretty hard in the first half to keep it within three.”
Lincoln led 37-32 late in the third quarter when Fletcher threw down a dunk in transition, and then hit a driving layup after a turnover.
Moments later Rorie knocked down a 3-pointer, then grabbed a defensive rebound and drove coast-to-coast for a layup.
Lincoln finished off a 19-4 scoring run when Rorie passed to Fletcher for an alley-oop dunk in the fourth quarter, making it 56-36.
“We gave up too many second-chance points tonight, and we gave up way too many fastbreak points tonight, for dunks and layups,” Thomas said.
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