Paige tops Gesell as Linn-Mar blasts South Sioux City

Story by Terry Hersom

Sioux City Journal

SIOUX CITY -- A crowd of approximately 4,500 poured into the Tyson Events Center with expectations of a monumental shootout.

It didn't turn out that way Friday night as North Carolina recruit Marcus Paige stole the show, scoring 18 of his game-high 31 points in the first quarter as Linn-Mar's defending Iowa Class 4A state champs spanked South Sioux City (Neb.), 81-62, in the sixth annual CNOS Foundation Basketball Classic.

Falling behind 45-25 after two quarters, Nebraska's two-time defending Class B state champions simply didn't have it on a night when they probably wanted to play well just a little too much.

Paige, ranked as high as No. 1 among the nation's senior point guards, drained his first eight shots, three of them three-pointers, and Linn-Mar was well on its way to a somewhat unexpected blowout.

The Lions, who have played in eight consecutive state tournaments, reaching the finals five times and winning three of those, shot 56 percent and monopolized the boards by a 41-20 margin.

"He shot the ball lights-out, he's a great player and it wasn't anything I haven't seen him do many times before,'' said South Sioux City's Mike Gesell, the University of Iowa recruit who is also touted as one of America's top senior playmakers. "My shot wasn't there tonight and I was settling for jump shots.''

Teammates on all-star teams for the last five summers, Paige and Gesell helped the Martins Brothers/All-Iowa Attack finish fifth in the eleventh-grade division at last July's AAU national tournament in Orlando, Fla.

East's 7-foot 1-inch Adam Woodbury, who is joining Gesell at Iowa next fall, was also a member of that outstanding squad.

"Mike's probably one of my best friends,'' said Paige, the fifth prep All-American Coach Roy Williams has landed from the state of Iowa, counting three he lured to Kansas. Paige, meanwhile, will join former Ames High star Harrison Barnes, now a UNC sophomore, in Chapel Hill.

Impressive as he was on offense, Paige was every bit as dazzling on defense, limiting Gesell to nine points and 3-for-10 shooting in the first two quarters of play.

And, the rest of the Lions, all of them basically new to the varsity rotation except Paige, also had a hand in limiting South Sioux to just 32 percent shooting (8 of 25) in the first half. Leading 34-22 midway through the second half, the perennial Mississippi Valley Conference kings added an 11-0 surge to make it a runway at 45-22 in the final minute of the half.

"I was very pleased with the way we came ready to play,'' said Chris Robertson, who has led each of his six previous teams to state tournaments since landing the head coaching job at Linn-Mar. "I really felt we defended well. Marcus doesn't get enough credit for it, but he's a pretty good on-ball defender.''

Gesell finished with 18 points and Austin Groth added 15 for the Cardinals, who split four games at the talent-laden VisitMesa.com Basketball Challenge and have now tumbled to 6-3 on the young season.

The Cardinals, who have another daunting challenge tonight at Norfolk, 9-0 and ranked No. 2 in Nebraska's overall state rankings, were down 73-44 with six minutes to play. Thanks to a refreshing 15-0 run with reserves on the floor for both teams, South Sioux cut a 29-point deficit more than in half, pulling within 75-61 before the final margin wound up being 19.

"We didn't come out with the intensity we needed,'' said SSC Coach Terry Comstock. "I think we were a little overexcited. We've just got to get back to playing Cardinal basketball. We weren't playing our style of basketball tonight.''

Linn-Mar, which graduated all but Paige from its top eight after winning its third state title in eight years last March, showed off plenty of young talent. A team with only two seniors on its roster enjoyed a 20-point night from 6-4 junior Jimmy Roth while 6-8 junior Derik Gogg added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

And the Lions, now 5-2, are playing without 6-5 junior wingman Matt Lassen, sidelined indefinitely by a severe concussion he suffered in a Dec. 9 loss to Iowa City West -- a day after Lassen made a verbal commitment to Albany University, a mid-major in New York.

"This was a good win for our team to get a lot of confidence,'' said the 6-foot 2-inch Paige, who had averaged 27.8 points in his team's six previous starts. "It was fun to play against someone comparable in skill and athleticism.''

Paige, limited to six points in the second half by double-teaming and a lopsided contest that sent him to the bench for good with 5:15 left, finished 11 of 14 from the field while his team shot 56 percent overall, hitting 28 of 50 attempts.