Lincoln’s Brandon, Tashon, Trevion Brown have uncoachable chemistry

Only Tashon Brown could say what needed to be said. So he glared at older brother Trevion.

“If you don’t pick it up, we are going to lose because of you,” Tashon said during a timeout against Seattle Prep. “I didn’t feel like he was giving it his all.”

Trevion followed with a go-ahead basket.

It was an exchange that might put a rift between teammates. But not brothers.

“Believe it or not, I like it,” said Trevion, a senior point guard and the Abes’ undisputed team leader. “Nobody else really gets on me.”

Trevion’s two brothers have no problem doing so. And Trevion will get on Brandon or Tashon just the same. It’s usually if Tashon misses more than two 3-pointers, or if Brandon’s not locking down a player on defense.

The trio helped lead Lincoln to its fourth consecutive Class 3A Narrows League title and a 14-0 record in league play — the first time that’s happened since 2001.

Lincoln’s Trevion, Tashon and Brandon Brown all play guard, but do so differently while playing vital roles for the Abes.

Despite the occasional squabbles, the Browns have an uncoachable chemistry. Lincoln coach Aubrey Shelton said that Brandon and Tashon each threw alley-oops to Trevion for dunks against North Thurston — on consecutive plays.

Or how about when Brandon got a rebound, threw an outlet pass to Tashon, who threw an alley-oop to Trevion for the dunk?

“I have never seen anything like it,” Shelton said. “Three brothers involved in one play like that?”

Trevion is the team’s floor general, top scorer and top passer. Tashon, a junior, scored 30 points and made a school-record nine 3-pointers Dec. 16 against Capital, and Shelton said that Brandon is the team’s best at getting to the basket and one of its best defenders.

The Brown brothers are so different off the court, too. They said they’re with each other 24/7. Brandon is the calmer, quieter one, while Trevion is serious, but can be goofy. And Tashon?

“Tay is the mouth of the south, so to speak,” said their father, David Brown.

“Tay Tay likes to be the center of attention,” said Lincoln sophomore guard Trevante Anderson. “He’s happy pretty much all of the time.”

Shelton said he’s never had three siblings playing together on the same team, though he played with one of his own brothers at Lincoln and coached another his first year as the Abes’ coach in 2007.

How often does he play the Brown brothers on the court at the same time?

“At least once a game I try, right?’ Shelton asked the brothers.

“You’re right … like once a game,” said Tashon.

Trevion and Tashon played varsity together last season, too, but Brandon, their half-brother, didn’t move in with them and their father until this past September. He lived in Lacey with his mother his freshman year and played on Timberline’s varsity squad, before he moved with her to South Carolina.

He still contacted his brothers almost daily. Tashon said he spent most of his time trying to persuade Brandon to move back and play with them at Lincoln. Brandon would return for the summers and play with them on their father’s AAU team, the Seattle Swish.

Lincoln lost in the regional round of the state tournament last season. Brandon, who was playing for Dreher High School, lost in the quarterfinals of the 3A state tournament in South Carolina and its top player, Tevin Mack, was leaving for the University of Texas.

“I got tired of losing in the third round and these guys were getting tired of losing in regionals,” Brandon said. “So we said we should put it together and get it over with.”

His mom surprised him and flew to Tacoma for Lincoln’s senior night and they shared an emotional hug on the court when Brandon saw her for the first time that day.

Their competitiveness? That comes from their father.

David Brown grew up in Chicago before spending 10 years as an airborne ranger in the Army. He also played basketball in Australia for two years and tried out for the Los Angeles Clippers.

His military background is evident at home. His sons are to spend their first two hours at home studying with no cellphones and no television, David said. He moved to their current apartment complex because it has a basketball gym.

“He’s our best-worst critic,” Tashon said. “He pushes us to the core.”

“He’s the reason for where we are right now,” Trevion said. “He’s had the biggest impact on our lives — he’s our coach, he’s our dad, he’s our trainer. But not only does he teach us basketball things, but he teaches us how to transfer that to real life.”

David says if they can play for him, they can play or work for anybody.

Said David: “Because nobody is going to drive them harder than how I drive them.”

That is — except for each other.

But they’re also each other’s biggest fans.

“It’s just a blessing to play with my two brothers, especially my last year,” said Trevion, who said he and Brandon will play together at Elite 1 Academy in Arizona next year. “It’s really kind of surreal. It makes everything more comfortable and brings more joy to it. I can’t really picture playing with anybody else.”

Said Tashon: “Even if we argue with each other, we are still going to trust each other … that’s probably the main reason we get mad at each other is because we expect just so much from each other.”

This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Lincoln’s Brandon, Tashon, Trevion Brown have uncoachable chemistry."