Paige's status still day to day

MARION - At least Chris Robertson has a good sense of humor about his best player's malady.

“I almost answered the phone with ‘Still day to day,'” the Linn-Mar boys' basketball coach laughed Monday afternoon.

Yes, point guard Marcus Paige is “still day to day” and may or may not play tonight when second-ranked Linn-Mar (21-1) and Pleasant Valley (17-7) get together in their Class 4A substate final at the U.S. Cellular Center. Tipoff is approximately 8 p.m., following the Cedar Rapids Washington-Iowa City High substate final, which tips at 6:30.

“Honestly, Marcus is feeling better,” Robertson said. “He actually wanted to do some things in practice (Sunday). The plan is for him to do a few things today in practice. It's a tough deal, but he's handling it really well.”

Sophomore Paige was diagnosed with mononucleosis two weeks ago and missed Linn-Mar's final regular-season game and its 56-47 substate semifinal win last Friday night against Dubuque Senior. The Lions have won 20 straight games and are looking for their seventh consecutive trip to the state tournament.

Washington (13-8) and City High (10-12) split two regular-season games: Washington winning at home, 70-40, and City High winning a neutral-site game at “The Cell,” 77-63. Both teams are coming off last-second substate semifinal wins: Washington over Cedar Rapids Kennedy and City High over Iowa City West in overtime.

“We've come together as a team so well this past month,” said Wash's Josh Oglesby, whose team has won seven in a row.

Speaking of rematches, Cedar Rapids Jefferson and Cedar Falls also have one in their 4A substate final at UNI's McLeod Center. Jefferson (17-4) beat CF (16-5) in their lone regular-season encounter, 65-48, in mid-January.

“All it means is we played at our place at that time of the year,” said Jeff Coach Stu Ordman, who is looking to return to state with the J-Hawks for the first time since 1999. “And we did some things to give ourselves an advantage.”