Linn-Mar takes down top-ranked Cedar Falls, 69-61

MARION - There have been a ton of significant victories in the 2000s for this proud boys’ basketball program. The three Class 4A state championships accomplished in that time frame and the games leading up to them leap to mind immediately.

But in recent seasons, say the last five to 10, Thursday night might have provided significant victory numero uno. At the very least, among the top couple.

“Through my four years here, it’s probably the biggest,” Linn-Mar’s Davis Kern said after his sixth-ranked Lions beat 4A top-ranked Cedar Falls, 69-62. “We had one at Indianola a couple of years ago (in a substate semifinal), but I think this CF team is way better than that Indianola team. CF was undoubtedly considered as the No. 1 team in the state. Undefeated, beat us by 30 the first time.”

Cedar Falls (10-1) put a 61-34 beatdown on Linn-Mar in a game played in early December up in Black Hawk County. You didn’t expect a repeat of that one here, and you definitely didn’t get it.

Kern scored 25 points and got the better of CF’s William Gerdes, who recently got a scholarship offer from the University of Iowa. A South Dakota State signee, the 6-foot-8 forward wiggled and powered his way to a bunch of inside hoops and drawn fouls, and added a pair of 3-pointers as well.

Senior wing Payson Nietert was just as brilliant in a 23-point performance that saw him nail five 3-pointers and a couple of crucial late free throws in the final seconds. Nietert’s corner trey with two minutes left appeared to be a dagger, giving Linn-Mar (9-2) a 60-50 lead, but CF forced a couple of turnovers and got a 3-pointer from Gerdes to suddenly make it 63-61 with 31 seconds left.

Gerdes finished with 14 points.

But Linn-Mar got a combination of defensive stops and made free throws to hold on and make a statement. This is a group that is seriously capable of getting the Lions back to the state tournament for the first time since 2012.

“Absolutely,” Nietert said, when asked about this being a huge win. “Especially after how the first game went. We were ready to come back and get another chance at them. We knew we needed to be better, we trusted each other. I trust everyone with my whole heart, we all trust each other with our whole hearts to take shots and play as hard as we can. We knew good things would happen.”

“I don’t know how you’d rank it, but it’s a good win,” said Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson. “The bottom line is, and we may have talked about this earlier, but we literally got our ass kicked up there the first time. We knew we didn’t play well and obviously we knew that was a really, really good basketball team. After that game in the locker room, I told the guys that might be the best thing that could have happened to us, depending on how we responded to it. I think we knew we had a chance to be good, but maybe we felt we were a little better than we actually were.”

Linn-Mar isn’t especially deep but its five starters are good, there is length there, some guys who can shoot it from distance and a point guard (Trey Wright) who transferred in from Iowa City High and does so many important things. He was sick and did not play in L-M’s other loss this season, to Ankeny.

Keegan Steege led Cedar Falls with 16 points. Leyton Wolf added 15.

The Tigers have had a gauntlet schedule so far, splitting with Linn-Mar, beating No. 4 Cedar Rapids Kennedy, No. 2 West Des Moines Valley and a good Iowa City West team in a blowout. This is just a blip for a very, very good basketball team that has length, good guards and good 3-point shooting ability.

“Our guys responded, played with real good energy tonight,” Robertson said. “That’s a damn good team over there that is so well coached. To be able to hang on down the stretch, I was really proud. They made some runs at us, and we just kept answering the bell.”

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AT LINN-MAR

CEDAR FALLS (61): William Gerdes 5-10 2-2 14, Leyton Wolf 6-9 1-2 15, Jaydon Kimbrough 1-7 0-0 2, Anthony Galvin 4-12 2-5 11, Keegan Steege 5-9 3-3 16, Jordan Townsend 1-2 0-0 3, Liam O’Neill 0-0 0-0 0, Carsen Gary 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 8-12 61.

LINN-MAR (69): Tyler Hilton 0-2 2-2 2, Davis Kern 8-13 7-8 25, Payson Nietert 7-14 4- 23, Mason Matson 1-4 3-4 5, Trey Wright 4-6 3-4 12, Karson Rains 0-3 0-0 0, Max Robertson 0-1 0-0 0, Brody Oberbroeckling 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-43 19-23 69.

Halftime - Linn-Mar 37, Cedar Falls 36. 3-point goals - Cedar Falls 9-23 (Gerdes 2-2, Wolf 2-3, Kimbrough 0-5, Galvin 1-5, Steege 3-5, Townsend 1-2, Gary 0-1). Rebounds - Cedar Falls 22 (Gerdes, Steege 5), Linn-Mar 29 (Nietert 8, Kern 7). Total fouls - Cedar Falls 18, Linn-Mar 10. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Cedar Falls 9, Linn-Mar 11.

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