Jeff Johnson

The Iowa High School Athletic Association dropped its weekly boys’ basketball rankings Monday, as well as all postseason brackets for Class 3A and 4A. Top substate seeds belong to Decorah in 3A and Linn-Mar and Cedar Rapids Kennedy in 4A. Linn-Mar moved up to No. 2 in this week’s 4A poll.

Cascade basketball historically has been successful, with a nasty 2-3 zone defense taught by legendary head coach Al Marshall a huge reason why. But this season’s Cougars have gone 18-3 by playing man to man, of all things.

The Class 4A third-ranked Linn-Mar boys’ basketball team suffered an unexpected loss in early January to Ankeny at the Crossover Shootout in downtown Cedar Rapids. But it has been nothing but victories since, the Lions’ 11th straight coming Friday night at Dubuque Senior, 61-56, virtually wrapping up the Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division championship.

Center Point-Urbana’s boys’ basketball team lost its first 10 games last season, but a return of several key players and offseason work turned the Stormin’ Pointers into a team this season that has virtually doubled its win total and won the Wamac Conference East Division championship.

The postseason for boys’ basketball begins Friday night with 17 “pig-tail” district games in Class 1A.

Call It Both Ways: High school basketball podcast with Gazette sportswriters Jeff Linder and Jeff Johnson talking area high school basketball.

The North Fayette Valley boys’ basketball team won the Upper Iowa Conference outright Tuesday night, completing a perfect 21-0 regular season with a dominating 72-45 win over MFL/Mar-Mac. It’s the first unbeaten regular season in school history.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association announced Monday afternoon official postseason brackets for boys’ basketball in Class 1A, 2A. Top seeds in their district include Cascade in 2A and North Linn in 1A.

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders head coach/general manager Mark Carlson will tie and break the United States Hockey League record for most regular-season games coached this weekend. Carlson will tie the record Friday night at home against Dubuque and break it Saturday night at ImOn Ice Arena. He’ll be honored pregame Saturday night.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association released boys’ basketball rankings Monday. 38 of the 40 teams in last week’s poll remain this week, with some changing of positions.

The Linn-Mar boys’ basketball team knocked off Class 4A third-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy earlier this week by two points. The No. 4 Lions got another top-10 win Friday night at home, downing No. 10 Cedar Rapids Prairie, 69-57.

North Linn senior guard Mason Bechen is second in the state in scoring average this season. He recently surpassed 1,500 points for his career and could wind up finishing second all-time at the school. He scored 54 points Tuesday night against Starmont to break NL’s record for points in a game, one he set earlier this season at 48.

Call It Both Ways: High school basketball podcast with Gazette sportswriters Jeff Linder and Jeff Johnson talking area high school basketball.

Mason Matson hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:01 left, as his Linn-Mar boys’ basketball team beat Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 67-65, Tuesday night at Kennedy. The Lions came in ranked fourth in Class 4A, and Kennedy third.

The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders acquired forward Noel Ohgren in a trade from the USHL’s Fargo Force earlier this season, and the 18-year-old from Sweden has paid big dividends for the club. Ohgren’s brother, Liam, is with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. Their father, Andreas, is a personal trainer who has worked with many NHL players from Sweden over the years.