Linn-Mar wins again ... this time by a wider margin

MARION - This was an honest to goodness blowout win Friday night for Linn-Mar’s boys basketball team.

Blowout being relative in this case. The Lions won their first four games this season by four, two, three and three points, in that order.

A 76-63 win over Iowa City West was, perish the thought, an actual victory by double digits. But not much less tight than the previous four games.

“We could breathe a little bit,” said Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson. “Man, what an effort. Both teams. That game, both teams played hard.”

Yeah, the spread here finished at 13, but this was tightly played almost all the way through. West (3-1) led by a deuce, 16-14, after a fun first quarter, with Mason Matson connecting on a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to put Linn-Mar (4-0) ahead for good 30-28.

The Lions expanded their lead to as many as 11 points in the third quarter, only to have West respond with an offensive spurt that made it a 51-49 game with 5:34 left in regulation. That’s when Owen Havlik and Matthew Darbouze came through with back-to-3s that pushed Linn-Mar’s edge back to eight.

“We were so much better offensively tonight then we were Tuesday night (against Cedar Rapids Prairie),” Robertson said. “Defensively, I thought we were good, too. We got to the free-throw line. It was a good team win for us.”

There aren’t a lot of dudes in the regular playing rotation for Linn-Mar, but, so far, six has been enough. Davis Kern had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Lions, but this was a true group effort.

Matson finished with 17 points, including hitting 8 of 9 from the foul line. That was part of a 24 for 31 performance as a team.

Havlik added 16 points, Darbouze 8, Payson Nietert 9 and Jake Wallrichs 5.

“We’ve been great defensively,” Havlik said. “Got great shots. Feel like we’ve been in some close games because we haven’t gotten the best shots. We’ve been able to find ways to win. Tonight we got great shots.”

Including a couple of transition dunks in the closing seconds to punctuate this nice win. Jack McCaffery, Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran’s youngest son, had 23 points and 13 rebounds for West.

Kareem Earl added 17 points.

“I just felt like we played a good defensive game,” Kern said. “We limited them on the offensive rebound, too. Everyone was hustling, too. It was an amazing team win.”

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AT LINN-MAR

IOWA CITY WEST (63): Kareem Earl 5-6 7-8 17, Jack McCaffery 7-19 7-9 23, Canaan Barnes 2-2 0-0 5, Julian Manson 4-8 0-0 8, Jacob Koch 4-14 0-2 9, Hayden Umoren 0-5 0-0 0, Mason Goering 0-0 1-2 1, Jack Wallace 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 15-21 63.

LINN-MAR (76): Payson Nietert 2-5 4-4 9, Davis Kern 8-12 5-7 21, Matthew Derbouze 3-5 0-2 8, Owen Havlik 5-13 4-6 16, Mason Matson 4-7 8-9 17, Jake Wallrichs 1-5 3-4 5. Totals 23-47 24-31 76.

Halftime - Linn-Mar 30, Iowa City West 28. 3-point goals - Iowa City West 4-18 (McCaffery 3-8, Barnes 1-1, Manson 0-1, Koch 1-6, Umoren 0-2), Linn-Mar 6-13 (Nietert 1-3, Darbouze 2-2, Havlik 2-5, Matson 1-3). Rebounds - Iowa City West 30 (McCaffery 13), Linn-Mar 33 (Kern 12). Total fouls - Iowa City West 21, Linn-Mar 16. Fouled out - Manson. Turnovers - Iowa City West 14, Linn-Mar 12.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com