Josh Montague will be one of the happiest guys in the Linn-Mar gym for the 2011 Eastern Iowa All-Star Games tonight.

He helped Linn-Mar win the Class 4A state title a few weeks ago, his injured right knee feels much better and now he knows where he'll play college basketball next season.

Montague, a 6-foot-6 forward, committed to Maryville University of St. Louis on Tuesday, picking Maryville over Truman State (Mo.) and Northern State (S.D.).

"I've been down there twice," he said Thursday night. "I've watched a game down there, and then I took an official visit. I really feel like I fit in with the team."

Montague said he's excited about attending college in St. Louis.

"I think it's really kind of nice, because you're in a big city, but the campus is a smaller school and it's in a little community right there, so you kind of have the best of both," he said.

Linn-Mar graduate Zach Bohannon, now at the Air Force Academy, helped Montague find a spot at Maryville. Kevin Carroll, the head coach at Maryville, was an assistant at Air Force when Bohannon enrolled at the service academy, and Bohannon recommended Carroll return to Linn-Mar and look at Montague.

"Zach got recruited by the same guy," he said. "Zach told him I'd be a guy he'd be looking for himself."

This was Carroll's first season at Maryville, an NCAA Division II school that finished 7-19 overall and 3-15 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Montague averaged 10.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots for the Lions this season. He missed four games late in the year after tearing the MCL in his right knee, but he returned for the state tournament and helped Linn-Mar win the title.

Montague did not need surgery on his knee. "I'd say it's pretty much 100 percent right now," he remarked.

Montague shot 61.3 percent from the field and 72.0 percent at the foul line this season. He made 50 percent of his 3-pointers (9 of 18) and was a solid all-around player for Linn-Mar.

Montague will be one of seven Metro players in the boys all-star game at Linn-Mar tonight, joining Linn-Mar teammate Shane Benton, Cedar Rapids Washington teammates Josh Oglesby and Wes Washpun, Kennedy teammates Jake Manning and Kyle Lamaak, and Marion High School all-stater Kasey Semler.

The girls all-star game is scheduled for 6 p.m., with the boys game to follow. There will be 3-point shooting and slam-dunk contests.

Tickets cost $5 for adults and $4 for students. The Metro Sports Report is one of the sponsors of the event.