Linn-Mar dispatches of Kennedy, 66-57 (VIDEO)

MARION - Ladies and gentlemen, the best team in the Metro. And it's really not even close right now.You've got to say the Linn-Mar Lions are the best team in the state, too. Yeah, duh, on that one, especially for those who saw last night's 66-57 win over Cedar Rapids Kennedy.No. 1 versus No. 4 in Class 4A didn't much live up to the hype, as top-ranked Linn-Mar built a 22-point lead early in the fourth quarter and survived a sloppy finish that made the final score closer than it seemed.“I'm not going to make any comment on that,” said guard Matt Bohannon, when asked that best-team-in-the-state question. “That'll be (determined) in March. You guys can discuss all that. We're just coming in every game and playing the best we can.”That's pretty good, considering a 13-0 record that includes a blowout win last week over then-ranked Cedar Rapids Washington and wins the last two weeks over competition from the Twin Cities and Madison, Wis.“We're getting there,” said guard Marcus Paige. “There was that one stretch tonight, if we can keep that up, we're going to be tough to beat.”Linn-Mar led all the way, by seven after a quarter and 13 at halftime and after three. A magnificent stretch of offensive play that included great ball movement extended the Lions' edge to 58-36, but much to its credit, Kennedy (10-2) scored the next 13 points and clawed within seven with about three minutes to go.Linn-Mar made enough plays and free throws from there to win comfortably. Or at least semi-comfortably.“I was really surprised,” said Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson. “Like I told the guys, I thought we had them on the ropes, ready to knock them out. But you've got to give them credit. They came back, and we just couldn't get any (defensive) stops in that stretch. That 13-0 run made it a ballgame again.”Bohannon had a terrific shooting night with a game-high 25 points, including four triples. Paige wasn't at his best offensively but chipped in with 17, including an unreal follow tip dunk in the second half after one of Bohannon's few missed 3s.Did we mention the North Carolina point guard commitment is all of 6-foot-1?“Matt had hit like four in a row or something like that, but I could see that it was a little short,” Paige said. “There was no backside rebounder, and I kind of timed it up. It worked out for me.”Kennedy was led by forward Jake Manning's 14 points. Kyle Lamaak added 13 and Jake Misener 12.The teams combined for an uncharacteristic 41 turnovers.Here is the game boxscore and a short video interview with Paige:

AT LINN-MAR

C.R. KENNEDY (57): Jake Manning 6-9, 2-3 14, Kyle Lamaak 3-9 5-8 12, Christian French 4-7 1-3 9, Jake Misener 5-11 0-2 10, Josiah Coleman 3-6 0-0 7, Elliott Christians 0-0 0-0 0, Darius Fuller 0-0 0-0 0, Herschel Dixon 0-2 1-2 1, Trevor Heitland 2-3 0-0 4, Ross Ellsworth 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-45 9-18 57.

LINN-MAR (66): Shane Benton 0-3 4-8 4, Josh Montague 2-5 1-2 5, Ian McBrayer 3-4 0-0 6, Matt Bohannon 8-18 5-5 25, Marcus Paige 5-13 6-10 17, Derik Gogg 2-2 0-0 4, Michael Thul 2-2 1-2 5, Mason Krusie 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Lassen 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Soyer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-47 17-27 66.

Halftime - Linn-Mar 28, Kenedy 15.

3-point goals - Kennedy 2-9 (Lamaak 1-3, Misener 0-2, Coleman 1-4), Linn-Mar 5-14 (Benton 0-1, Montague 0-1, McBrayer 0-1, Bohannon 4-8, Paige 1-3).

Rebounds - Kennedy 29 (Manning, Lamaak 6), Linn-Mar 31 (McBrayer 10).

Total fouls - Kennedy 21, Linn-Mar 20.

Fouled out - None.

Turnovers - Kennedy 22, Linn-Mar 19.