Clutch gene: Shareef-Dulaney’s late heroics send Lincoln to 3A title game
· Yahoo Sports
With the game on the line, Lincoln needed its biggest star to shine. Davion Shareef-Dulaney rose to the occasion.
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Trailing Eastside Catholic by a point with just over a minute to play, Lincoln’s sophomore guard hit a nasty step back 3-pointer to give the Abes a 64-62 lead. Then, on Eastside Catholic’s final offensive possession, he swatted away the 3-point attempt by Crusaders’ guard Micah Rouson as time expired.
Lincoln won, 64-62. The Abes will play for the 3A state championship on Saturday in the Tacoma Dome.
“Having that shot, me hitting that, that’s a big dagger,” Shareef-Dulaney said. “Me coming down getting the game-winning block, that means I’m a two-way player.”
Lincoln coach Ryan Rogers has seen it over and over again the past two years, both in games and practice.
“Just winning plays that he makes all the time that we see every day,” Rogers said. “He is a competitor and he always rises to the occasion. On the biggest moments, he wants to be in that play and he wants to make the winning play and it shows and he does it every single day in practice. Proud of him.”
Shareef-Dulaney said he didn’t hesitate to block Rouson’s shot attempt.
“We know he’s not a good free throw shooter,” he said. “He was gonna shoot that no matter what, so me having my length and arms, getting that block means everything right now.”
The game was chippy at times. Eastside Catholic 6-foot-10 forward Yabi Aklog was ejected from the game late in the first half after saying something to a Lincoln player after making a shot. A member of the Lincoln coaching staff told The News Tribune he was ejected for using a racial slur, allegedly.
It was a major loss for Eastside Catholic, but the Crusaders played well without him, particularly from the 3-point line, where Eastside Catholic shot 40 percent for the game. London Walsh scored 11, forward Tytan McNeal scored 12 and guard Steven Sun scored 10. Aklog had 12 points and eight rebounds before his dismissal from the floor.
Eastside Catholic outscored Lincoln 26-13 in the second quarter but Lincoln hung around, outscoring the Crusaders 21-13 in the final period to win the game.
Shareef-Dulaney’s line: 32 points, six rebounds and three steals. Guard O’Shea Lamar and forward Justus Holt added nine apiece for the Abes.
“I think that’s a testament to what we’ve been working on as a team and progressing through the season,” Rogers said. “The team is gonna go on runs but we can’t break down. We’ve just gotta keep going, keep battling and keep staying together. I think we stayed pretty composed when they went on that run there in the second quarter.”
The Tacoma Dome will be rocking on Saturday night. Lincoln, the tournament’s No. 7 seed, faces No. 1 Rainier Beach in a Tacoma vs. Seattle matchup. Rainier Beach features the No. 1 rated high school player in the country, Tyran Stokes. The Vikings cruised past Bellarmine Prep in the other semifinal game.
“It’s gonna be packed,” Shareef-Dulaney said. “This is my first championship of my life. It’s gonna be big. I just can’t shy away from the moment. I’m built for the big moments for a reason.”
Coaching in a championship will be a special opportunity for Rogers.
“It’s emotional because I’ve grown up being a Lincoln Abe my entire life, my mom taught there for 41 years,” he said. “On the day I came home from the hospital, I went to a Lincoln football game.
“So I’ve grown up in the Lincoln gym. I sat behind the baseline for both 2001 and 2002 state title teams. So this is something truly special that I really want to embrace and just take in because it’s just something I’ve been dreaming of my whole life.”
The 3A championship game is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.