There was no basketball “hangover” for the Linn-Mar boys Tuesday night when the Lions returned to their home court after a pair of wins last weekend in Sioux City.

The fifth-ranked Lions rolled to their fifth straight win, routing Dubuque Hempstead, 70-37, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game.

Linn-Mar (7-2, 3-2 MVC) was paced by three Lions in double figures. Marcus Paige had 25 points, Matt Meier notched 14, and Andy Henry added 10.

Hempstead (0-8, 0-6) was paced by Josh Dolson's 14 points. Sharpshooter Jake Weber added 11 points.

Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson said it was great to return home. He said the defending state champion Lions have set some short-term goals.

“We want to battle for the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in our eventual substate and we’ll continue to shoot for a goal of a conference title in this league,” he said.

There is no question this team receives many raves due to the exemplary play of Paige, but Robertson said other players are starting to find their groove.

“we hope that Jimmy Roth continues to step up and Andy Henry is certainly playing with more confidence," he said. " We hope to get even more great play from Derik Gogg on the inside and if we can continue to have two or three players stepping it up along with Marcus, we will continue to play well and have good results.”

Roth did step it up with eight points and solid floor play, Henry had two 3-point goals to his credit and the entire Lion squad shot well from the outside, cashing in on an impressive 13 3-point goals.  Paige netted five long bombs in the first half and had a massive dunk that electrified the student body en route to 19 first half points.  He duplicated the dunk feat in the second half along with scoring four free throws.

Hempstead led 8-7 midway through the first quarter, but that was the only lead the Mustangs mustered.

Both teams committed 15 fouls and both shot 9-for-13 from the charity line.

Linn-Mar's next game is Friday at home against winless Cedar Rapids Washington.

DUBUQUE HEMPSTEAD (37):  T. J. Johnson  0  0-0  0; Carson Hillery  0  0-0  0; Alex Smith  0  2-2  2; Jake Weber  5  1-2  11; Josh Viertel  0  0-0  0; Nick Klein  0  0-0  0; Shawn Breitbach  3  0-0  6; Josh Dolson  4  4-4, 14; Ben Goerdt  0  1-2  1; Kevin Thurman  0  0-2  0; John Hermsen  0  0-0  0; Casey Link  0  0-0  0; Mike Canfield  1  1-1  3.  Totals 13  9-13  37.

LINN-MAR (70):  Zach Martins  2  0-0  6; Josh Wick  1  0-0  2;  Taylor Richardson  0  0-0  0; Nate Dick  0  0-0  0; Marcus Paige  8  4-5  25; Jacob Hutchins  0  0-0  0; Jimmy Roth  3  1-2  8;  Matt Meier  5  1-2  14; Andy Henry  4  0-0  10; Jon Schlotterback  1  1-2  3; Derik Gogg  0  2-2  2.  Totals  24  9-13  70.

Halftime - L-M 39,  DH 19. Fouls -  L-M  15, DH  15. 3-point goals - L-M  13 (Martins 2, Paige 5, Roth 1, Meier 3, Henry 2), DH  2 (Dolson 2).