North Linn on a roll after holiday break

TROY MILLS - As a Christmas present, North Linn's boys' basketball team got to play Maquoketa Valley, Lisbon and Cascade back-to-back-to-back to open the post-holiday portion of their schedule. That present came courtesy of the Grinch, obviously.“I can tell you at the beginning of the season we talked about those three games,” North Linn Coach Mike Hilmer said. “We said if we can win two of the three, that would be fantastic. If somehow we could win all three, that'd be icing on the cake.”The Lynx got the icing, knocking off traditional power Cascade, 47-42, Tuesday night at home. That followed a 55-46 win last Saturday at Lisbon and a 47-31 win the previous night at Maquoketa Valley.North Linn is 11-1, the lone loss to undefeated Monticello, which leads it by a game in the Tri-Rivers Conference.“We've just got a lot of blue-collar kids,” Hilmer said. “They work hard, they know their roles. They play very well together.”The Lynx have a little bit of size in 6-foot-4 center Jake Oswald and 6-foot-2 forward Nicholas Aberle, and a little bit of shooting in guards Hunter Pflughaupt and Justin Supple. Those guys average between seven and 13 points a game, with Oswald leading at 13.3, followed by Aberle at 12.6.The other starter, guard Nick Price, had 10 points against Cascade. It's a true team.“One thing we really struggled with last year was if we had to set up in the half court, we really struggled,” Hilmer said.“We're just getting kids now to be more offensive-minded. It's helping because even though they might not be scoring, they're opening up space for other guys to finish. It's a long process. If you can't shoot, you've got to be able to penetrate and find the open guy. We're not a great shooting team, haven't been the last two years. But our offense has really improved, I think.”So has their postseason outlook since North Linn dropped from Class 2A to 1A this season and avoids teams like Cascade, Monticello and Northeast Goose Lake. The Lynx appear to be the best team in District 9, with a winnable substate as well.But there's a lot of basketball to be played first. The first goal is to win the Tri-Rivers.“Whoever wins it is going to have to win some tough games and some close games,” Hilmer said.

In the lane- Class 3A district and Class 4A substate groupings are expected to be released Monday by the Iowa High School Athletic Association. It'll be particularly interesting to see how the Metro schools are split up. A record four made it to the state tournament last season (Linn-Mar, Cedar Rapids Washington and Cedar Rapids Jefferson in 4A and Marion in 3A), though the quality of ball around here isn't nearly at that level this season.- There are five unbeaten teams left in the area, representing all four classes. Iowa City West (10-0) and Dubuque Senior (9-0) are atop their respective divisions in the Mississippi Valley Conference, Waverly-Shell Rock is 10-0 in Class 3A, Monticello 11-0 in 2A and Keota 11-0 in 1A.