Marcus Paige of Linn-Mar was seleced to play in the McDonald's All American Games in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of McDonald's All American Games)CHICAGO --  Marcus Paige is a humble young man who would never dare compare himself to the great Michael Jordan, but there are a few similarities.

Both of them have been saluted as McDonald's All Americans, Jordan in 1981 and Paige this year.

Both of them have played at the United Center in Chicago, Jordan during his Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bulls and Paige on Wednesday night in the 35th Annual McDonald's All American Games.

And both of them will have played for the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., where Jordan was an NCAA All-American and where Paige will enroll as a freshman this June.

"That's not bad company," Paige said after helping the West defeat the East, 106-102, before 15,625 fans and a national television audience.

Paige collected seven assists and committed only one turnover while playing 20 minutes as the starting point guard. He scored only four pointson 2-for-7 shooting, but also had three rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot.

Paige had to be a scorer this year at Linn-Mar, where he averaged 28 points and was named Iowa's Mr. Basketball, but he returned to his original high school role as a pass-first guy with the glittering collection of stars on his team Wednesday.

Many of Paige's passes went to Shabazz Muhammad, the 6-foot-6 man/child from Las Vegas who scored 21 points and was named the MVP. Paige and Muhammad were roommates in Chicago this week and developed some chemistry as friends and temporary teammates.

"We kind of feed off each other a little bit," Paige said. "I'm a distributor, he's a scorer. That works out well."

The McDonald's game turned into a dunkathon with only a modicum of token defense, similar to an NBA all-star game. Paige was happy to take a pass-first mentality into the contest and let his bigger, stronger West teammates find the spotlight.

Somebody draped a blue McDonald's All American Game jersey on Jordan's larger-than-life statue outside the United Center, and Jordan is just one of the glittering names on a long list of former McDonald's players that includes Magic Johnson, Ralph Sampson, Patrick Ewing, Danny Manning, Grant Hill, Dwight Howard, Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, Shaquille O'Neal and many others.

A total of 839 young men have played in the McDonald's All American Games since the series began 35 years ago, and that list now includes Mr. Marcus Paige. He joined Jason Bohannon (2006) and Kiah Stokes (2011) as Linn-Mar graduates who have played in the event. Linn-Mar is the only school in Iowa that has sent at least one male player and one female player to the McDonald's Games.

"It was a lot of fun, probably one of the most fun weeks of basketball I've had," Paige remarked. "All the guys are so cool. It was a great time.

"It was really cool playing in an arena like this, with so many people. It gives you a little taste of what college is going to be like."

Paige said the significance of the event was drummed home during pre-game introductions, when they turned off the lights and put a spotlight on the players. "What's when it hit me," he said. "Wow, this is what the McDonald's All American Game is all about.

"It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but then after that it's basketball."

Aside from the game and hanging out with the players, Paige said the biggest highlight of the week was visiting the local Ronald McDonald House and spending time with disadvantaged kids. "That raelly impacted my life," he said.

Wednesday's game was televised by ESPN, which gives Paige something else he now has in common with Michael Jordan. Paige has not met Jordan, but it's on his list of things to do.

"I hope one day I will," he said.

WEST (106): Grant Jerrett 4 0-2 8, Marcus Smart 0 1-4 1, Cameron Ridley 5 2-4 12, Shabazz Muhammad 10 1-1 21, Marcus Paige 2 0-0 4, Kevin Ferrell 1 1-3 4, Brandon Ashley 3 0-0 6, Anthony Bennett 3 2-2 9, Archie Goodwin 7 0-0 14, Isaiah Austin 5 0-0 10, Rasheed Sulaimon 6 2-4 18.

EAST (102): Alex Poythress 8 2-2 19, T.J. Warren 5 0-0 10, DaJuan Coleman 3 1-2 7, Tyler Lewis 1 0-0 2, Gary Harris 0 2-2 2, William Goodwin 4 0-0 8, Amile Jefferson 4 0-0 8, Kris Dunn 2 0-0 4, Tony Parker 4 2-2 10, Perry Ellis 2 0-0 4, Rodney Purvis 7 0-1 15, Kyle Anderson 6 0-2 13.

Halftime - West 58, East 46. 3-point goals - West 6 (Sulaimon 4, Muhammad 1, Bennett 1), East 3 (Poythress 1, Purvis 1, Anderson 1).