Linn-Mar Boys Basketball

Typical teen, atypical talent

To hear basketball phenom Marcus Paige tell it, he’s just a typical teenager.

The baby-faced 17-year-old Linn-Mar junior has loads of friends, some close ones from other schools he’s known since playing YMCA ball together in grade school. He’s active in a number of school organizations, his favorite being one that has him reading books in elementary classrooms.

“I like being with the little kids,” says the soft-spoken, polite young man. “And I think it’s important that the big kids be role models for them.”

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Marcus Paige gets offer from North Carolina

 Marcus Paige visited the University of North Carolina this past weekend and came home with a nice souvenir.

North Carolina Coach Roy Williams offered him a scholarship.

Paige, a 6-foot-1 junior point guard at Linn-Mar, is being recruited by some of the top college basketball programs in the country and now has offers from the Tar Heels, Kansas, Iowa, Iowa State and many others.

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Linn-Mar won’t hesitate with Paige in control

Marcus Paige dribbled up the left sideline during the Jamboree at Kennedy and hesitated in front of the Linn-Mar bench with a defender on his hip, so Coach Chris Robertson looked away to see where Paige might pass the ball.

When Robertson looked back, Linn-Mar’s exciting point guard was finishing an easy layup without a defender in sight. They call that a hesitation blow-by, and few people do it better than Paige.

“I missed it,” said Robertson, smiling.

Robertson heard about it, though. That’s why he was smiling.

“It’s kind of scary,” Robertson said, “but he’s improvea so much from last year to this year.”

It’s scary good for the Lions, but scary bad for opponents. Paige, a 6-foot-1 junior with superior skills, has college coaches drooling from coast to coast, but he plans to keep his suitors in suspense.

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This Bohannon stays close to home at UNI

Gordy and Brenda Bohannon won’t have to drive to Wisconsin or fly to Colorado to see their third-eldest son play college basketball.

Matt Bohannon is sticking close to home.

Bohannon, a 6-foot-4 guard at Linn-Mar, signed a national letter-of-intent Wednesday to play his college basketball at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, an easy drive from the Bohannons’ home in Marion.

He signed his letter-of-intent during a ceremony at the school Wednesday afternoon.

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