Second check cements belief Paige is Metro's all-time leading scorer

There will be a third check, but after double checking statitics, it's further believed Linn-Mar senior guard Marcus Paige is the Metro's all-time leading career scorer.

Information director Bud Legg of the Iowa High School Athletic Association said in an e-mail Friday that he has Paige with 1,700 career points to 1,698 for former Lion Jason Bohannon.

Legg said he gets season scoring information each year from schools that make the state tournament, and that "they have been accurate over the years." He gets his ultimate totals from adding state tournament numbers to the season numbers he receives.

That is how he got to Paige's total of 1,700.

The IHSAA's career scoring leaders list has 1950's Marion great Hugh Leffingwell with just shy of 1,900 career points, though The Gazette was skeptical of those numbers since Leffingwell played just two full seasons on varsity.

Legg said he corrected Leffingwell's career total to 1,375 after discussing the issue with local writer Dan Kellams, who recently wrote a book on former Marion coach Les Hipple that included a chapter on Leffingwell.

When all is said and done, it is believed Paige is the all-time career scoring leader in Metro boys' basketball history. Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson is out of town on spring break vacation this week and is supposed to re-check Paige's and Bohannon's numbers when he returns to school next week.