Every year, the noise spills down Interstate 5 from Seattle — about Metro League basketball, the tougher resume, the marquee matchups, 206 pride, who runs the state. Tacoma hears it. On Saturday night, Lincoln High School answered.

Lincoln, the No. 6 seed in the Class 3A state tournament, picked apart No. 2 O’Dea in a 3A state tournament regional round game at Bellevue College on Saturday, stunning the favored Irish in a 71-58 upset win.

If the “2-5-3” chants from the crowd weren’t indication enough, the rowdy Lincoln locker room — which could probably be heard from the parking lot — told the story. Not all wins are created equal. This one meant a little more.

“I feel like just because we’re a Tacoma team and they’re playing Metro, the harder division, they just think they’re all that,” Lincoln star sophomore Davion Shareef-Dulaney said. “We just came to shut them up.”

Lincoln, fresh off the 3A District 3/4 title, stormed out to an early lead and never looked back. O’Dea, which had only lost in-state to No. 1 Rainier Beach this season, looked shellshocked throughout the game.

Sophomore forward Justus Holt, who has been breaking out in the second half of the season and in the postseason, scored a game-high 23 points. Shareef-Dulaney scored 22. Forward Noah Dennis added 10.

O’Dea made a few runs, but Lincoln always had an answer. The final result never felt in doubt.

“The boys executed the game plan,” Lincoln coach Ryan Rogers said. “They knew it was going to be a really tough matchup. Coach (Jason) Kerr, legendary coach, and O’Dea is a super strong opponent.

“We’re glad the team came and rose to the occasion. They wanted this game, and we knew that they could play with them, we just had to put together four quarters, and they did it tonight.”

The biggest reason for the win? The play of Holt and Shareef-Dulaney, Lincoln’s star sophomore combo. Their nickname from Lincoln assistant Andy Nelson?

“Peanut butter and jelly,” Shareef-Dulaney said, smiling. “(Holt is) just amazing, man I’m glad to have him on my team. He does all the little things that people don’t see.”

Senior guard Brian Webster led O’Dea with 16 points. Guard Peyton Brooks added 15. Offense, for the most part, was hard for the Irish to come by.

“Playing physical with them,” Holt said of the defensive gameplan. “Make them put the ball on the ground, play physical.”

The win gives Lincoln a bye into the 3A state tournament quarterfinal round next Thursday at the Tacoma Dome, placing the Abes just a win away from the final four.

“We just know that we know what we do and we’re gonna give everybody our best matchup and our best game and we’re not afraid of anybody,” Rogers said. “We just want to make sure we come out ready to compete.”

Fast-break slams, crafty moves inside and a lockdown defense to match made Auburn’s runaway win look all too easy. It became crystal-clear in the opening minutes of Saturday’s 4A basketball regional at Auburn High — this simply wasn’t a fair fight.

The Trojans were bigger, faster, and longer than No. 16 Sunnyside. They were a nightmare in transition, piling buckets faster than the visiting Grizzlies could patch the bleeding. It never stopped.

With a trip to the Tacoma Dome on the line, junior wing Isaiah Englund dropped a team-high 20 points and No. 9 Auburn rolled Sunnyside in the state’s regional round, 81-50, to reach Wednesday’s 4A Round of 12. Don’t look now, but the Trojans are four wins away from a state title.

“The job’s not finished,” Auburn guard Daniel Johnson said.

Head coach Ryan Hansen insisted that last week’s district loss to Puyallup wasn’t “Auburn basketball.” The Trojans (22-3) trailed by more than 20 points and fell in stunning fashion, 76-58, a loss that almost certainly dropped them out of the state bracket’s top eight seeds. Those programs were guaranteed trips to Tacoma, regardless of outcome in this weekend’s regional round.

But one of Class 4A’s best wouldn’t let their season end short of what’s becoming an annual trek to the Dome. Not like this.

“This time of year, you’re playing good basketball teams and really have to pride yourself on defense and rebounding if you really want to make a run,” Hansen said. “I thought our defense was really good tonight.”

Johnson, meanwhile, had 18 points, the director and floor general of a fast-paced offense that always looked comfortable. Englund piled his team-high 20 points inside and sophomore guard Matthew Fredrickson added 19.

“Once he saw one go through, he played phenomenal,” Hansen said of Johnson. “He’s such a good player. It’s really hard to speed him up. Makes good decisions, and he can really score it.”

Sunnyside junior Aiden Sanchez dropped a game-high 26 points.

Auburn’s win capped an all-Trojans home doubleheader Saturday afternoon, both winner-to-state, loser-out games in front of a healthy home crowd. The boys meet No. 8 West Valley in the 4A Round of 12 at the Tacoma Dome at 9 p.m. Wednesday night.

Hansen and the Trojans weren’t concerned with being the odd-man out of the top eight. Johnson embraced it.

“It feels good to be the underdog,” he said. “We’re just ready to go. It’s just more fuel to the fire.”

BOX SCORE

S: 11-14-14-11—50

A: 20-27-24-10—81

Scoring: (A) Englund 20, Fredrickson 19, Johnson 18, Kinnay 10, Wilkes 6, Denoso 2, Hansen 2, Henry 2, Hernandez 2; (S) Sanchez 26, Weets 10, Villanueva 8, Di. Salinas 4, Do. Salinas 2

AUBURN GIRLS BEAT EISENHOWER, REACH TACOMA DOME

Auburn’s girls are packing their bags for the Tacoma Dome, too.

Junior guard Avery Hansen dropped a game-high 24 points and the No. 9 Trojans cruised over No. 16 Eisenhower, 61-33, to reach Wednesday’s 4A Round of 12 in Tacoma.

Hansen was Saturday’s best player, the clear spark for Auburn’s offense despite constant double-teams. Perhaps more impressive than her game-high 24 points were the handfuls of pretty passes through traffic, the all-around facilitator with her season at stake.

“I’ve been playing with my teammates for so long, I know where they’re going to be,” Avery Hansen said. “And I know that they’re expecting the ball from me, so I feel like it’s just natural.”

Make it 3-for-3 for the junior guard Hansen and head coach Jessica Hansen, both reaching the Tacoma Dome for the third time in as many years with the Auburn program. It’s a family affair: Jessica’s husband, Ryan, coaches the boys team that includes Kobe Hansen, a freshman guard.

“(Avery’s) ability to go get a bucket if we need one… she’s just a dawg,” Jessica Hansen said. “Usually, that’s how we have success with some of the teams that people think maybe we can’t beat. We’re able to shut down their best player because we put Avery on them.”

Eisenhower forward Mercedez Garza paced the Cadets with 17 points.

Auburn meets No. 8 Sumner in the 4A Round of 12 on Wednesday afternoon, a 2 p.m. tip at the Tacoma Dome.

BOX SCORE

E: 6-6-9-12—33

A: 14-16-17-14—61

Scoring (A): Hansen 24, Deloney 9, Schoenbachler 9, Scheutzle 6, Randolph 5, Patton 4, Richardson 4; (E) Garza 17, Salamanca 6, O’Connor 4, Page 4, Mullen 2