Forwards top guards as Waukee edges Linn-Mar, 56-51

MARION - A good front court against a good back court. So who you takin'?The right answer Tuesday night was the big guys, but not by much.Waukee and its college-sized front line made enough plays offensively and defensively in the final couple of minutes to overcome the comparative gnats from Linn-Mar, 56-51, in a fine season opener between teams that appear to be in for good boys' basketball seasons."That's a tough matchup for us," said Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson. "They're tough to guard. We adjusted, and I thought our guys battled really hard. I was very pleased ... It's just hard. You can play perfectly (defensively) and still give up a basket just because of their size."Waukee goes 6-foot-10, 6-8 and 6-7 up front with Nate Gehring, Michael Jacobson and Anthony Nelson, respectively. Gehring is going to Pepperdine, while Jacobson - a junior - has early offers from Northern Iowa and Drake, among others.The trio of timber combined for 49 points and 31 rebounds. Jacobson (19 points, 12 boards) and Nelson (16 and 13) had double-doubles."I thought it was a good team win for us," Jacobson said. "I thought we finished down the stretch, fought hard and never folded."Linn-Mar didn't have a lead until late in the third quarter, when Nic Uhlir's lane jumper put it ahead, 40-39. Waukee was up a point, 52-51, with a little over a minute remaining, but Uhlir missed a runner in the lane, Nelson converted a fast-break hoop and Linn-Mar turned it over.Two free throws provided the final score."I told the guys they could be disappointed with the result, but they can't be disappointed with anything else," Robertson said. "If we get that effort for 20 more games, we're going to be fine."Uhlir and Jordan Bohannon give Linn-Mar one of the better guard courts around. Uhlir finished with 10 points, while Bohannon led everyone in scoring with 21.The sophomore, the youngest of the four basketball Bohannons, is not the biggest kid around at a listed 6-foot-1 and isn't overly athletic. But, man, can he shoot it, and he's got a lightning-quick release that catches opposing guards off balance."We were right there with them, and that's a top five team in the state," Bohannon said. "We'll be fine, we'll be fine. I think we can be really good. I mean, we're a lot closer than we were last year. We had a lot of flaws. This year, we came together at the beginning of the season. At the end of the summer, we played at Wisconsin and UNI in team camps, and played really well. I think that'll show later in the season."It doesn't get any easier for Linn-Mar, with the Lions' next game at Bettendorf. The Bulldogs return virtually every player from a 2012-13 team that went undefeated until losing in the Class 4A state championship game to Iowa City West."That's all right," Robertson said. "I don't mind playing the competition early. It'll help us at the end of the year."Here is the game boxscore:

AT LINN-MAR

WAUKEE (56): Michael Jacobson 6-12 6-8 19, Anthony Nelson 6-13 4-6 16, Nate Gehring 6-10 2-5 14, Michael Winger 1-4 2-2 5, Trevor Allen 0-0 0-2 0, Grant Frey 0-0 0-0 0, Parker Howe 0-2 0-0 0, Ted Crites 1-4 0-0 2, A.J. Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Adam Rose 0-2 0-0 0. 20-47 14-23 56.

LINN-MAR (51): Jon Schlotterback 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Larson 0-4 0-0 0, Lane Halupnik 3-9 0-0 8, Nic Uhlir 3-15 2-3 10, Jordan Bohannon 9-18 0-1 21, Griffin Brennecke 0-1 0-2 0, Jordan Brandt 0-1 0-0 0, Riley Murphy 0-1 0-0 0, Trevor Noble 5-7 0-2 10, Ryan Schmidt 1-3 0-0 2, Darrin Eby 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-60 2-8 51.

Halftime - Waukee 29, Linn-Mar 26.

3-point goals - Waukee 2-11 (Jacobson 1-3, Winger 1-3, Howe 0-2, Crites 0-2, Rose 0-1), Linn-Mar 7-25 (Larson 0-2, Halupnik 2-6, Uhlir 2-5, Bohannon 3-9, Brandt 0-1, Murphy 0-1, Eby 0-1).

Rebounds - Waukee 43 (Nelson 13, Jacobson 12), Linn-Mar 31 (Larson, Noble 6).

Total fouls - Waukee 14, Linn-Mar 19.

Fouled out - None.

Turnovers - Waukee 16, Linn-Mar 9.