Paige, Linn-Mar blast Bettendorf, 71-56

MARION - A courteous reporter told Marcus Paige last night he would wait for a postgame interview if Paige first wanted to go chat with Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery.McCaffery was standing outside the Linn-Mar locker room, talking with Lions coaches about their team's 71-56 win over Bettendorf. He was about 10 feet from Paige.“No, that's all right,” the junior point guard said with a smile. “I'm not sure if I'm supposed to talk to him right now or not.”Ah, those NCAA recruiting regulations. It's officially an “evaluation period” right now, meaning McCaffery can't have direct contact with a potential recruit unless he is on Iowa's campus.And make no mistake, Paige is definitely a recruit Iowa wants badly. He was superb in a 25-point performance that helped Linn-Mar to a 2-0 record after the first week of the boys' basketball season.“It's really scary how much Marcus has improved from last year to this year,” Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson said. “At the end of last year, nobody saw him at full strength because he'd been sick (with mononucleosis). He has worked hard, probably improved more than anyone on our team. When your best player improves the most, that's an encouraging sign.”The 6-foot Paige has gained strength and 10 to 15 pounds, tipping the scales at about 165, he said. It's all in lifting weights and eating more.“It takes a lot of time (to gain weight),” he said. “It's not something you can just do overnight. I've been working hard with our lifting guy here and everything to get that up.”Paige said he worked hard on his shooting over the summer, and it showed last night, as he made 10 of 12 field-goal attempts and all four free throws. His left-handed jumper was silky smooth.The setup part of his game continues to be superb, though he had “only” five assists, working some at the two spot with Michael Thul running the point. Northern Iowa recruit Matt Bohannon added 15 points for the Lions, with big men Ian McBrayer and Josh Montague chipping in with 12 and 11, respectively.Terrific ball movement, particularly in the first half, helped Linn-Mar shoot 60 percent from the field and lead from start to finish. It's going to take a good team and a good effort from that good team to beat these Lions.“I thought we played better tonight than we did Tuesday night in Waukee,” Robertson said. “We were a little more fluid offensively, did better at sharing the ball and moving it around.”Paige said the latest big college scholarship offer has come from UCLA. That goes with other significant offers from Kansas and Illinois to name just a few.He'll take an unofficial trip to North Carolina next weekend and said he hopes to have his list of potential college destinations whittled to “six or seven” by the end of this season.“Things have changed a little bit,” he said. “I used to say I wanted this all done earlier than later. Right now, by the end of this season, I'll probably have a list of about six or seven that I'll have it cut down to. I'll work from there, and whatever feels right. The timetable isn't really important.”Here is the game boxscore and a video interview with Paige, who talks his game/body improvement, his Linn-Mar team and, of course, recruiting:

AT LINN-MAR BETTENDORF (56): A.J. Casas 4-6 0-0 10, Tom Dunlavy 2-4 0-0 5, Tamrick Atwood 1-4 2-2 5, Nick Hughes 4-11 0-0 9, Jake Ashby 8-13 6-8 22, Nick Heimendinger 2-3 0-1 5, David Cribbs 0-0 0-1 0, Alex Graupman 0-0 0-0 0, Patrick Garrity 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-41 8-12 56.

LINN-MAR (71): Shane Benton 3-5 0-0 6, Marcus Paige 10-12 4-4 25, Matt Bohannon 5-15 4-6 15, Ian McBrayer 5-6 1-4 12, Josh Montague 5-5 1-1 11, Michael Thul 0-2 0-0 0, Mason Krusie 1-2 0-0 2, Derik Gogg 0-0 0-4 0, Matt Lassen 0-1 0-0 0, Braxton Lancial 0-0 0-0 0, Andy Henry 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Gentzler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-48 10-19 71.

Halftime - Linn-Mar 40, Bettendorf 24.

3-point goals - Bettendorf 6-16 (Casas 2-3, Dunlavy 1-3, Atwood 1-4, Hughes 1-4, Heimendinger 1-2), Linn-Mar 3-13 (Benton 0-1, Paige 1-2, Bohannon 1-5, McBrayer 1-1, Thul 0-2, Krusie 0-1, Lassen 0-1).

Rebounds - Bettendorf 22 (Atwood 6), Linn-Mar 20 (Bohannon, Montague 5).

Total fouls - Bettendorf 16, Linn-Mar 13.

Fouled out - None.

Turnovers - Bettendorf 23, Linn-Mar 8.