Down goes No. 1! Hometown Lincoln Abes knock off top-seeded Auburn at Tacoma Dome
Down goes the bracket’s top seed: No. 17 Lincoln of Tacoma just achieved the improbable.
Abes forward Omarion Boston dropped a game-high 21 points, LaVhanta Sandling-Green connected on a go-ahead three-pointer in the final minute, and Lincoln held on, 60-56, for a mammoth upset at the Tacoma Dome on Wednesday afternoon.
Sandling-Green’s go-ahead jumper marked the completion of a 13-point Lincoln comeback in the fourth quarter. Auburn’s last-second desperation heave missed wide. And the Abes stormed the court, then the jumbo-sized bracket posted behind the baseline to move their name into Thursday’s 3A quarterfinals with No. 2 Eastside Catholic.
“This is amazing,” Boston told The News Tribune, surrounded by teammates and coaches sharing hugs and photos. “The feeling’s great. This is a special, special feeling right now. This is my first year here (at the Dome), and I’m ready for it.”
Lincoln faced a 47-34 deficit entering the fourth quarter. That was when Auburn’s offense fizzled, and the Abes built a 16-2 run.
Boston fouled out with less than two minutes in regulation, and with the Trojans ahead by one, the ball instead went to Sandling-Green. What became the upset-clinching trey was his only three-point attempt all game.
“Shoutout coach, shoutout to my teammates,” Sandling-Green said. “Look at the atmosphere. Atmosphere’s good. We came up in big times, we needed it. Coach said let’s keep doing stuff that’s working for us, we kept doing it.”
No. 1 Auburn, the 3A champion in 2022 rostering star guard Jaylen Petty, is eliminated from title contention. The Trojans suffered consecutive losses for the first time this season despite a late surge from Petty (16 points) and a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double from senior forward Luvens Valcin.
Sandling-Green tallied 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Lincoln out-rebounded Auburn, 37-33, and snagged 15 costly Trojans turnovers.
“We were meant to be here,” Lincoln coach Ryan Rogers said. “That’s what the guys wanted to know. They wanted to play with a chip on their shoulder and let everybody know we were meant to be here today.
“We talk about, ‘earn it every day’ … They earned it today.”
From the WIAA logo at half-court, Abes forward Dairius Dillard banked home a last-gasp buzzer-beater before halftime, and Lincoln trailed by one.
Petty emerged as Auburn’s elite scoring option and shot creator in the third quarter – he connected on a pair of impressive contested fadeaways – but a Trojans offense accustomed to scoring nearly 80 points per game mustered only nine points in the fourth.
“There’s a lot of time,” Rogers told his Abes team with one quarter to play. “One quarter is a lot of time. You’ve got to chip away. There’s no 12-point or 16-point buckets, whatever it was. Just chip away, one bucket, one stop. One bucket, one stop. The guys just bought into the belief that we could still win this thing.”
This was a rematch of Auburn’s 83-70 home win over the Abes on Feb. 9, where the Trojans clung to a one-possession lead and pulled away late for a 13-point win. The roles felt reversed Wednesday in the Tacoma Dome, this time in Lincoln’s backyard – roughly one mile from campus.
“It’s anybody’s game here at the T-Dome,” Rogers said.
Lincoln advances to Thursday’s 3A quarterfinals at the Tacoma Dome and meets No. 2 Eastside Catholic for a 2 p.m. tip. The winner moves to the “Final Four.”
“We held our composure in the fourth quarter,” Boston said. “We didn’t give up.”
TNT sports reporter Jon Manley contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 28, 2024 at 5:09 PM.
