Seattle Pacific signee Shaw Anderson leads Kelso past Lincoln in bidistrict semifinals

In the past 18 months, the Lincoln High School boys basketball team has gone 44-6 in nearly two seasons of play.

And half the Abes’ losses have come to one team — the Kelso Hilanders.

It happened again Thursday night, as Kelso handled the Abes, 79-65, in the Class 3A West Central/Southwest bidistrict semifinals at Puyallup High School.

All three of those Hilanders’ victories have come within the last calendar year, starting with a win in last year’s bidistrict title game.

“I don’t know if it is (a good matchup for us) or not,” Kelso coach Joe Kinch said. “I just know we’ve played really well against them.”

It certainly helps when you have one of the best players in the state — and Kelso does with 6-foot-5 senior Shaw Anderson, a Seattle Pacific signee who tallied a game-high 33 points and 13 rebounds in the victory Thursday night.

“Shaw is just a tremendous talent,” Kinch said. “We are able to play through him, and he allows us to do things.”

At one point, the Abes trailed by 17 points in the first half (34-17), but went on a 9-0 run late behind Jayden Simon, who scored half of his team-high 20 points in the second quarter.

But, Kelso made seven of its first nine field goal attempts to start the second half, led by Anderson, who scored 11 points in the first 5:49.

Anderson’s short turnaround jumper capped a 16-5 run, and Kelso was in control, up 52-31.

“The two weeks we had off (before the postseason) were a real benefit. We practiced against a lot of presses and traps,” Anderson said. “We had counters for almost everything they did.”

After their long snow-related layoff this week, the Abes shot a blistering 57.4 percent in the team’s 87-65 victory in the quarterfinals Wednesday night.

But, a night later, they took hurried shots, particularly around the basket. They finished with a 43.6-percent shooting clip (24 of 55). Meanwhile, Kelso made 28 of its 42 field goals.

“They are just tough. They are really well-coached,” Lincoln coach Ryan Rogers said. “When other teams execute really well and slow the pace, it throws our guys off a little bit. We like to play fast.”

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

K – Josh Webb 13, Riley Noah 14, Jayden Hardeman 10, Drew Tack 1, Dillon Davis, Wyatt Brown 8, Shaw Anderson 33.

L – Elohiem Johnson 19, Emillion Coffee 1, Micah Pollard 29, Alex Glenn 7, Theo Thales 2, De’Ante Hill 1, Isaiah Jackson 3.

This story was originally published February 14, 2019 at 9:04 PM.