One Metro League team down, more on the way to Tacoma

Aubrey Shelton knows what likely lies ahead for his Lincoln High Abes.

If they are going to win a Class 3A boys basketball championships, they likely will need to knock off a few Metro League schools along the way,

Saturday was a good start.

Matched up against a very young, talented but bruising Eastside Catholic squad, the No. 2 Abes won a thriller, 56-53, in the regional round of the Class 3A tournament at Puyallup High School.

Emmett Linton III sank two free throws with 17.6 seconds remaining, and the Abes survived when the ninth-ranked Crusaders missed two open looks at game-tying 3-point attempts, including the last by standout guard Brock Mackenzie from the left side with two seconds remaining.

Lincoln (24-1) earns a bye into the 3A quarterfinals Thursday in the Tacoma Dome, and will face the winner of the Seattle Prep-Timberline loser-out matchup Wednesday. The Crusaders (23-6) play Stanwood in a loser-out game.

Linton led all scorers with 22 points, including six 3-pointers. Willie Thomas II added 15 points, and Julien Simon had 13.

“That (Eastside Catholic) team is a very good team — super talented,” Shelton said. “I told the guys, it is possible we’d have to go through four Metro teams to win state. We will see what happens ... but it was good to get on that winning foot.”

There is a Seattle-centric way of thinking about the 3A tournament: Nobody, including Lincoln, is good enough to make a run through the Metro League.

And given that Metro programs have won the past 3A titles, it isn’t a thought without merit.

But Lincoln went 2-2 against those Seattle teams last season, with wins over Eastside Catholic and Seattle Prep, before losing to nationally-ranked Nathan Hale and West Seattle on the final two days of the 3A championships.

The Crusaders is a team built for the future. They played three taletned ninth graders, including Shane Nowell, the brother of University of Washington guard Jaylen Nowell.

Which might be a reason Simon had his best game of his young Abes’ career.

Also a ninth grader, the 6-foot-2 Simon has taken on a bigger role after Daemon Dillingham was lost for the season with a knee injury.

Simon had Lincoln’s last bucket, on a nifty feed from Le’zjon Bonds, with 49 seconds remaining. He also forced Nowell into a big turnover along the right sideline with 1:20 reimining.

“He brought it on both ends,” Shelton said. “He’s got the heart of a champion. You can see it in his face in the way he practiced this week.”

Eastside Catholic tied the game three times in the final quarter — the last at 51-51 with 1:35 remaining.

Each time, the Abes had an answer on their end.

“We execute every play like it’s our last play,” Thomas said, “We go to every game like we are not going to play a next game, so we fight.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2018 at 9:02 PM with the headline "One Metro League team down, more on the way to Tacoma."