Can Kennedy/Linn-Mar duplicate substate final magic?

CEDAR RAPIDS - Before the talk turns to Tuesday night's double-header nightcap at the U.S. Cellular Center, let's take a moment to recall the last time Cedar Rapids Kennnedy and Linn-Mar played a Class 4A substate boys' basketball game against each other.

That was in 2012. You might recall some kid named Marcus Paige scored 49 points in perhaps the greatest individual performance a Metro player has ever had.

The University of North Carolina junior scored seven points alone in the final 19 seconds of regulation to force overtime. Linn-Mar eventually beat Kennnedy in double overtime, 83-77.

'We actually had talked on the bench about how we had to get Marcus out of the game, so he could get a curtain call,” said Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson, whose team trailed the entire game, including by nine with under a minute to go. 'What a performance ... People were leaving the gym and then trying to get back in. I've had people tell me they got home and were told we won, and they were like ‘No, no, no. I was at the game. They lost.'”

Over 2,500 packed the Cedar Rapids Prairie gym that night. Many couldn't get a seat, so they stood around the court or went to the Prairie cafeteria to watch a closed-circuit TV feed.

'I definitely remember that game well,” said Linn-Mar senior forward Lane Halupnik.

He was in the stands watching with teammmte Nic Uhlir.

'I remember during the fourth quarter, I looked up at the score, and we were down big,” Halupnik said. 'I turned to Nic and said ‘Well, looks like we're going to have to restart the streak.' Then Marcus went off, and it was the best basketball environment I have been in. Or at least one of them.”

That marked the ninth straight trip to the state tournament for Linn-Mar, which ended up finishing fourth. The Lions haven't been back since to Des Moines.

This game has the potential to be another beauty, as these teams are virtually identical. They have similar records (Linn-Mar is 18-4, Kennedy 17-5), love to push the tempo and shoot the 3-pointer.

It'll be interesting to see how the longer court at the U.S. Cellular Center factors, if at all. Linn-Mar won the regular-season matchup, but both teams know that's meaningless.

'We were kind of upset with that loss,” said Kennedy's Brendon Manning. 'It's always a rivalry with Linn-Mar.”

'One of the reasons we press and come up to the ball (defensively) is because of our speed and quickness,” said Kennedy Coach Jon McKowen. 'And our depth. Putting another 10 feet (of floor) out there gives us 10 more feet to play. We want to play baseline to baseline, and we get 10 more feet. We're pretty excited about that.”

By the way, McKowen was not Kennnedy's head coach in 2012, so he wasn't around for that Cougars misery.

'That was an ESPN Classic,” Robertson said.

Let's hope this one will be, too. Three-time defending 4A champ Iowa City West plays Cedar Rapids Washington in the first game Tuesday night at 6:30.

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Cedar Rapids Washington (13-9) vs. Iowa City West (22-0)

- Location: U.S. Cellular Center, 6:30 p.m.

- Scouting Report: Pretty much a David versus Goliath matchup here. West is three-time defending 4A champion and has won 28 straight games. The Trojans beat Washington in the regular season, 68-46 ... All five West starters average at least 11.3 points per game, led by wing David DiLeo (15.6). He shoots it at a 43.9-percent clip from 3-point range and 83.9 at the free-throw line. He is the team's lone senior ... Washington's only double-figure scorer is junior guard Jared Printy (12.4 PPG). The Warriors have won five straight games, tying Dubuque Hempstead for the Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division championship ... Washington was last at the state tournament in 2011, the second of back-to-back appearances. West Coach Steve Bergman has 496 career wins.

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Cedar Rapids Kennedy (17-5) vs. Linn-Mar (18-4)

- Location: U.S. Cellular Center, 8 p.m.

- Scouting Report: These teams are incredibly similar, from their records to the style of play they prefer. That would be up and down with a lot of 3-point shots. Linn-Mar won the regular-season encounter at Kennedy, 74-61, hitting 13 of its 27 3-point attempts ... Junior guard Jordan Bohannon leads the Lions in scoring (17.9 PPG), making 75 3-pointers. Senior guard Nic Uhlir is next at 13.5 PPG. Linn-Mar's losses all have come to teams in substate finals: Ankeny Centennial, Waukee, Iowa City West (4A) and Cedar Rapids Xavier (3A) ... Kennedy has won six games in a row. Forward Brendon Manning leads the Cougars in scoring (14.6) and shoots 57 percent from the field. Guards Zach Daniels and Cole Murdock average 23 points between them and have posted 170 combined assists ... Kennedy qualified for the state tournament last season, losing to Sioux City North in the quarterfinals. Linn-Mar has not been to state since 2012, the last of an incredible string of nine straight trips to Des Moines, all resulting in fourth-place finishes or better.

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Other Games Around The State

Ames (16-6) vs. West Des Moines Dowling (15-7) at Ankeny

Bettendorf (8-15) vs. North Scott (19-3) at Muscatine

Council Bluffs Lincoln (19-3) vs. Sioux City North (13-9) at Council Bluffs Jefferson

Des Moines Hoover (20-1) vs. Ankeny Centennial (19-3) at Dallas Center

Pleasant Valley (20-2) vs. Clinton (14-9) at Davenport North

Waukee vs. (17-5) vs. West des Moines Valley (17-5) at Johnston

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com