No. 1 Linn-Mar holds off No. 4 Cedar Falls, 66-61

MARION - You looked around for the guy doing all the screaming and yelling in between the third and fourth quarters last night at Linn-Mar, only to realize it wasn't an overly obnoxious fan in the stands.

It was Lions head coach Chris Robertson laying into his top-ranked basketball team. This put the chew in butt chewing.

"In practice, maybe he's been even a little bit louder," said Linn-Mar's Matt Bohannon after his team held off No. 4 Cedar Falls, 66-61, in a fine matchup of top Class 4A clubs.

"I don't know. I just didn't think we played very hard and very smart in the third quarter defensively," the normally mild-mannered Robertson said. "For whatever reason, we were flat."

Consider your loud message received, Coach. The Lions got some defensive stops, scored the first four buckets of the fourth to extend a precarious lead and made all their free throws down the stretch to move to 4-0.

Cedar Falls (3-1) hit 8 of 12 shots in the third quarter to slice a double-digit disadvantage to 43-42.

"It wasn't anything special that they were doing," Robertson said. "They were just beating us to the ball and were more aggressive going to the basket. That was disappointing ... We needed some guys to step up and play a little harder, and in the fourth quarter, I thought they did."

This victory came without starting guard Shane Benton, a North Dakota signee who is out until after Christmas with mononucleosis. Northern Iowa signee Bohannon made up for his absence with a game-high 25 points, including three treys.

"M-Bo" had struggled in Linn-Mar's first three games, hitting just 11 of 32 shots and 3 of 13 3s.

"I want to be a knockdown shooter," Bohannon said. "Any time I'm open, I want to be able to (put) it down. I felt like I did a pretty good job of that during the summer. It's just a matter of putting it out on the floor now. You know how that goes. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not. Tonight, I felt pretty good."

Point guard Marcus Paige added 16 points for the Lions, who made all 12 free throws in the second half and 18 of 20 in the game. Among those in the house to watch him play were Iowa State Coach Fred Hoiberg and Virginia's Tony Bennett.

James Harrington's 17 points led Cedar Falls. Like Paige, he's a terrific junior point guard who has Division I offers.

"Thank goodness we made our free throws in the end," Robertson said. "We got the ball in the right guys' hands."

Here is the game boxscore and short video interview with Bohannon:

AT LINN-MAR

CEDAR FALLS (61): Bobby Brummel 0-2 0-0 0, Tony Johnson 4-8 2-4 10, Caleb Konieczny 6-15 0-0 15, James Harrington 6-10 4-4 17, Matt Klinehart 0-1 1-2 1, Nick Clark 0-2 0-0 0, Kalund Brown 1-4 0-0 3, Kahlehl Brown 2-3 0-0 5, Isaac Boettger 3-5 4-6 10, Matt Allender 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 11-16 61.

LINN-MAR (66): Ian McBrayer 3-7 4-4 10, Josh Montague 3-5 0-0 6, Matt Bohannon 9-16 4-4 25, Marcus Paige 4-12 8-8 16, Michael Thul 1-2 0-0 2, Mason Krusie 0-2 0-0 0, Derik Gogg 1-1 2-4 4, Matt Lassen 1-1 0-0 3, Andy Henry 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-46 18-20.

Halftime- Linn-Mar 35, Cedar Falls 24. 3-point goals - Cedar Falls 6-20 (Brummel 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Konieczny 3-9, Harrington 1-1, Clark 0-1, Kal. Brown 1-3, Kah. Brown 1-2, Boettger 0-2), Linn-Mar 4-13 (McBrayer 0-1, Montague 0-1, Bohannon 3-7, Paige 0-2, Krusie 0-1, Lassen 1-1). Rebounds - Cedar Falls 27 (Johnson 7), Linn-Mar 26 (Montague 7). Total fouls - Cedar Falls 18, Linn-Mar 17. Fouled out - McBrayer. Turnovers - Cedar Falls 14, Linn-Mar 11.

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