Lions back to state for 8th straight time
North Scott tried a gimmick defense that had some success against Linn-Mar standouts Marcus Paige and Matt Bohannon on Tuesday night in a Class 4A substate tournament at the U.S. Cellular Center.
But it turned out the only way to truly shutout Bohannon was by latching the locker room door.
Bohannon's steal and coast-to-coast layup highlighted a 25-0 Linn-Mar run that carried the top-ranked Lions past North Scott, 50-25, and into the boys state basketball tournament for a record eighth straight year.
The Lions (23-0) earned the top seed in the tournament and will play eighth seeded Cedar Rapids Washington (17-8) next Wednesday (March 9) at 1:45 p.m. The Warriors whipped Dubuque Hempstead, 56-31, in Tuesday's nightcap at the U.S. Cellular Center. Linn-Mar beat Washington twice during the regular season, 80-55 and 62-41.
Linn-Mar will be after its third state title in the last eight years. The Lions started their consecutive tourney appearance streak in 2004, when they won the Class 4A state title. They also won it in 2007. The Lions had been tied with Cedar Rapids Regis for the longest streak of consecutive state tournament appearances. The Royals went seven straight times from 1989-95.
"Eight straight, people might say it gets old," said Bohannon, who scored 10 of his game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter. "But it never gets old. Every time is sweet. For some of us, this is our third time there. I can honestly say that the other two times have been good, but going back there is going to be great."
Paige and Ian McBrayer added 10 points apiece for Linn-Mar. Darren Dillon had 12 points for North Scott (16-7).
Linn-Mar led just 23-22 after North Scott's Dillon knocked down his fourth 3-pointer with 6:02 left in the third quarter. The Lancers did not score again until Ben Engler hit a trey with 1:53 left in the game. The Lions scored 25 straight points in the interim.
Last Updated on Monday, 07 March 2011 22:44