Dubuque Senior holds off Linn-Mar for state berth

DUBUQUE -- Top-ranked Dubuque Senior is on to the state tournament for the third consecutive year, hoping this time to bring home its first boys' basketball state championship.

Senior Kyle Haber led all scorers with 22 points as the Rams held off a game bunch of Linn-Mar Lions in a classic 4A substate final, 52-47, last night at Dubuque Hempstead.

"Great game. It was a dogfight the whole way," Senior Coach Wendell Eimers said. "I thought our defense was awfully, awfully good the second half."

After falling in the state quarterfinals two years ago to Linn-Mar and in last season's semifinal to eventual state champion Iowa City West, second-seed Senior (22-1) will face West Des Moines Valley Wednesday, Mar. 12 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

"We're very happy to be back for a third year in a row," Eimers said. "We're going to hopefully make some noise down there."

Last night resembled nothing like the 66-41 beating Senior delivered at Linn-Mar on Dec. 17, but there were two instances in the second quarter when it looked like Senior might pull away. Just over a minute into the period, a 3-pointer from Haber gave the Rams their largest lead of the night at 21-13.

Facing a 23-inch height disadvantage across the starting lineup, Linn-Mar countered with the great equalizer -- perimeter shooting. Back-to-back threes from Lane Halupnik and Jordan Bohannon tied the game at 21-21, and after five straight points from Haber returned the lead to Senior, Linn-Mar's Nick Uhlir drilled consecutive 3-pointers that gave the Lions seven for the half and led to a 32-31 advantage at the break.

"They came in and any team that shoots the ball that well is a dangerous team," said Haber, a Brown signee. "They shot it great in the first half. We just stuck with our game plan and kept our hands up in the second half and they started missing some of them."

Both defenses stiffened out of the halftime locker room for a combined 11 third-quarter points. Linn-Mar struggled from the outside in the second half, with its only 3-pointer a Bohannon heave in the closing seconds.

"They started getting their hands up on our shots," said Bohannon, who finished with 20 points. "They started closing in tighter on me, so I tried to get to the rim in the second half."

Linn-Mar held the lead for the final time at 40-38 a little over a minute into the fourth quarter on a tough rebound and putback from reserve Ryan Schmidt. Haber tied the game at 40-40 on a steal and layup, then gave Senior a 44-42 lead with a drive in the paint with 2:15 remaining.

Iowa football signee Lucas LeGrand had the chance to salt the game away from the free-throw line with 49 seconds left and Senior up 46-44, but missed both. LeGrand quickly redeemed himself with a crucial defensive rebound and calmly sank his next four from the charity stripe for a 50-44 lead with just 6.6 ticks left.

"It was really big," said LeGrand, who finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. "I am always one of the ones at the end to shoot those free throws. I was getting a little scared once I missed those two. Once I made that next one, I knew they were all good."

Linn-Mar (13-10) fails to reach the state tournament for the second straight year after its record nine-year streak ended last season.

With the majority of his main contributors returning, Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson looks to next season.

"I told our guys two things," Robertson said. "I was proud of the fight in the dog, and I was even more proud of the dog in the fight."

Uhlir finished with 16 points for Linn-Mar, while Schmidt pulled down seven rebounds.

"We gave it our best effort out there," Bohannon said. "We went toe-to-toe with the best team in the state for 31 minutes. We just let that last minute slip away."

AT DUBUQUE HEMPSTEAD

LINN-MAR (47): Ben Larson 0 0-0 0, Jon Schlotterback 0 0-0 0, Lane Halupnik 2 1-2 7, Nic Uhlir 5 4-5 16, Jordan Bohannon 8 0-0 20, Ryan Schmidt 2 0-0 4, Trevor Noble 0 0-0 0, Riley Murphy 0 0-0 0, Jordan Brandt 0 0-0 0, Griffin Brennecke 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 5-7 47.

DUBUQUE SENIOR (52): Lucas LeGrand 2 7-10 11, Luke McDonnell 2 2-2 6, Seth Bonifas 1 2-2 4, Kyle Haber 6 9-11 22, Sam Noel 2 2-4 7, Keaton Hermsen 0 0-0 0, Parker Hammel 0 0-0 0, Jayden Davis 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 22-29 52.

Halftime – Linn-Mar 32, Senior 31. 3-point goals – Linn-Mar 8 (Bohannon 4, Uhlir 2, Halupnik 2), Senior 2 (Haber, Noel). Rebounds - Linn-Mar 21 (Schmidt 7), Senior 32 (McDonnell 9). Assists - Linn-Mar 8 (Brandt 2, Halupnik 2), Senior 8 (Haber 3). Total fouls - Linn-Mar 26, Senior 17. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Linn-Mar 5, Senior 8.