‘Purposeful havoc’: Lincoln’s defensive clinic snaps River Ridge’s nine-game win streak
.jpg "Lincoln head basketball coach Ryan Rogers (middle) is honored for his 100th career win ahead of Wednesday night’s game with River Ridge at Lincoln High School on Jan. 15, 2025, in Tacoma, Wash.")
He’s only a freshman, but Davion Shareef-Dulaney’s already making waves at Lincoln High.
The six-foot guard creates his own shot, using slick moves to attack the rim or step back for a fadeaway three. Don’t look away or the ninth grader rips the basketball away and dusts opponents for a transition slam.
“He doesn’t play like a freshman,” Abes coach Ryan Rogers smiled.
Shareef-Dulaney was everywhere for an Abes program that put on a defensive clinic Wednesday night — an all-out block party with frequent turnovers, vicious swats, and everything in between. Visiting River Ridge (10-5, 5-5) entered 3A PSL action on a nine-game win streak but never looked comfortable, rejected inside and forced to the perimeter.
Lincoln limited Hawks standout Dominique Harper to six points, and the Abes cruised over River Ridge, 76-43, with one of the more-suffocating defensive performances you’ll see.
And talk about spreading the love: Lincoln guard Uriah Wilson dropped a game-high 11 points, one of six Abes in double-figures. Shareef-Dulaney was among the other five to notch exactly 10.
“Defense translates to offense,” Shareef-Dulaney told The News Tribune. “And our offense just kept going for the defense.”
He’s not looking for the flashy highlights — he wants to win. It’s a trait Rogers believes helps Shareef-Dulaney play beyond his years.
“I’m just surrounding myself with good people,” Shareef-Dulaney said. “And they help me be great, to be the person I am today.”
Sophomore point guard Trey Collier facilitated the show with 10 points, and junior guard Kasey Williams (10 points) dropped two early buckets that powered the Abes to an 8-1 lead in the first quarter. Junior forward Amare Breedlove and freshman Justus Holt also added 10 points apiece.
That’s right — four of Lincoln’s starting five are underclassmen, just freshmen or sophomores. None of them play like it.
“We’ve grown up together. We all know each other,” Collier said. “Chemistry’s great, and we’re very young.”
River Ridge forward Ryzen Nunez scored a team-high 10 points. Junior guard Ethan Thomas added nine.
Lincoln (12-2, 10-0) remains undefeated in league play and visits Timberline next on Friday night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
“We preach effort,” Rogers said. “Effort fixes a lot of problems, so if we can fly around, we create purposeful havoc. We’re so athletic that we can guard a lot of people, so we just want them to play at our tempo and fast-paced so we can (make) them uncomfortable.
“We did that tonight.”
ROGERS HONORED FOR 100TH CAREER WIN
In a pregame ceremony, Lincoln honored head coach Ryan Rogers after his 100th career win at the helm of the program he played for.
“It’s kind of a surreal moment,” Rogers said after Wednesday night’s win, his 101st at Lincoln. “We’ve had a lot of great coaches here in my time with John McCrossin, Tim Kelly, Aubrey Shelton… so it’s an honor to be up there with them in the 100-win category.
“It just seems a little unreal that we hit that milestone. I’ve had a lot of great mentors and I’ve had a lot of really good players that’ve put in a lot of effort to get us where we’re at.”
“He’s a great coach even though he’s making us run every practice more than we need to,” Shareef-Dulaney laughed, earning a chuckle from Collier. “He’s putting us through the work to make us the team we are today.”
BOX SCORE
RR: 10-10-12-11—43
LHS: 20-20-22-14—76
Scoring: (L) Wilson 11, Collier 10, Williams 10, Shareef-Dulaney 10, Breedlove 10, Holt 10, Lamar 5; (RR) Nunez 10, Thomas 9, Harper 6, Garcia 6
This story was originally published January 15, 2025 at 10:40 PM.
