Kennedy gets revenge on Linn-Mar

CEDAR RAPIDS - When the game finally seemed sealed, which took a long time, by the way, the Cedar Rapids Kennedy student section let loose.

'Where is Marcus?” it chanted with glee, while rhythmically clapping. 'Where is Marcus?”

Marcus Paige, of course, is at the University of North Carolina. He couldn't provide the other-worldly heroics for Linn-Mar the way he did in this game three years ago.

'Yeah, I was there that night, and it was just insane,” Kennedy's Cole Murdock said, after his Cougars exorcised some major demons with a 58-54 Class 4A substate final win Tuesday night at the U.S. Cellular Center. 'It reminded me kind of like tonight. We had control the whole game. I was just trying to find a way to keep my teammates calm and not all jacked up there. We did pretty good at keeping control of ourselves down the stretch.”

Kennedy (18-5) qualifies for the state tournament for the second year in a row, drawing Pleasant Valley (21-2) in the 3-6 quarterfinal game next Wednesday night at 6:35 Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Kennnedy is the sixth seed.

As an added bonus, the Cougars were able to exact revenge for a regular-season loss and an incredibly painful double-overtime loss in 2012, a game in which Paige scored 49 points.

'I don't fully understand the history of the rivalry,” said second-year Kennedy Coach Jon McKowen. 'It's all what I've been talked to about, what I've seen on the Internet. I saw the YouTube video of it, so I kind of understand what the kids feel. I tried to help them through it a little bit. We just asked our guys to stay solid for (32) minutes. Don't play Linn-Mar, play Kennedy basketball.”

Which on this night meant smothering defense, especially on Linn-Mar's big two of Jordan Bohannon and Nic Uhlir. Uh-Bo finished with 30 combined points but went only 12 of 38 from the field, 3 of 22 from 3-point range.

As a team, the Lions were an icy 4 of 26 from distance, 0 for 14 in the first half. When you are a jump-shooting team, that's not good.

'We communicated so well with each other,” Murdock said. 'When we were out of position, someone was covering. I don't know how many 3s they hit tonight, but it couldn't have been many.”

'We knew they had two really good scorers, so we just focused our priority on them,” said Kennedy's Brendon Manning. 'Whenever they had the ball, we'd go up and get in their face. We didn't want to let them get a clean look.”

Kennedy spread the floor offensively, attacking the basket and getting to the free-throw line regularly. The Cougars shot a whopping 42 free throws, making 29.

On the other hand, Linn-Mar (18-5) was just 8 of 14. There's your difference.

'They were more aggressive, I think, on both ends. Especially early,” said Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson. 'We fouled a lot, they got to the line ... You've got to give them credit. We just had a hard time getting going. We got some good looks. Not all of them, but there were times where we did exactly the right thing. Get to the middle and kick it out, where guys were open. The shots just didn't fall.”

Kennedy led by six after a quarter, by nine at halftime and by nine with 4:28 to go. Linn-Mar made a final desperate run, getting a Uhlir layup after a steal to make it a 55-51 game with one minute left.

But this wasn't quite 2012 all over again. Murdock hit a pair of clutch free throws in the final 30 seconds, and Kennedy hung on.

Manning led the Cougars with 13 points, while Murdock had 12. Speaking of 12, that was the number of field goals Kennedy had in the game.

The ability to get to the line so much negated that.

'I thought we played a really solid game from start to finish,” McKowen said. 'When adversity hit, it didn't take for us to get back out of it. We continued to do what we do well.”

'I can tell you I was sick and tired of losing to them,” Murdock said. 'I think it was 13 of the last 14 games. I've contributed three losses to that team, and I was absolutely done with it. I was not going to allow it to happen again tonight.”

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AT U.S. CELLULAR CENTER

C.R. KENNEDY (58): Bryton Heisler 1-2 7-8 9, Brendon Manning 3-7 6-13 13, Derrick Diggins 2-5 0-0 6, Zach Daniels 3-9 2-2 9, Cole Murdock 2-4 7-8 12, Drake Brewster 0-5 5-8 5, Matt Gardner 1-3 0-1 2, Derek Girling 0-0 2-2 2, Terrance Hall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-35 29-42 58.

LINN-MAR (54): Trevor Noble 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Schmidt 1-1 0-0 2, Lane Halupnik 1-3 2-2 4, Jordan Bohannon 6-18 2-2 16, Nic Uhlir 6-20 1-4 14, Jordan Brandt 1-5 2-2 4, Beau Klostermann 0-2 0-0 0, Riley Murphy 1-1 1-3 4, Jason Tichy 4-7 0-0 8. Totals 20-57 8-13 54.

Halftime - Kennedy 28, Linn-Mar 19. 3-point goals - Kennedy 5-13 (Manning 1-1, Diggins 2-3, Daniels 1-5, Murdock 1-3, Brewster 0-1), Linn-Mar 4-26 (Halupnik 0-1, Bohannon 2-10, Uhlir 1-10, Brandt 0-4, Murphy 1-1). Rebounds - Kennedy 34 (Manning 10), Linn-Mar 32 (Brandt 11). Total fouls - Kennedy 16, Linn-Mar 26. Fouled out - Brandt. Turnovers - Kennedy 11, Linn-Mar 11.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com