UhBo and Tichy help Linn-Mar brush past Washington

MARION - UhBo did it again Friday night. With a little help from Tichy.

The guard combo of Nic Uhlir and Jordan Bohannon took over in the fourth quarter and eased the Linn-Mar Lions past Cedar Rapids Washington, 54-41, in a physical Metro hoops encounter.

They did what they usually do, combining for 35 points (Bohannon 19, Uhlir 16) and making free throw after free throw down the stretch to seal a game that was tied in the third quarter. Unsung senior forward Jason Tichy gets a big gold star, too, helping create separation with his biggest and brightest varsity performance, scoring a career-high nine points, including back-to-back layups to begin the fourth.

'After tonight, I think that will give me some confidence for the games coming up,” said the 6-foot-5 Tichy.

'That was Jason's best game,” said Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson. 'He played really well, was strong on the boards. I thought he defended (Washington's Maurice) Arrington really well, and he got a couple of nice baskets.”

The Lions (2-1) have responded well from a season-opening loss last week to Waukee. They'll go as far as UhBo will take them, though performances off the bench like Tichy's certainly will help.

'When they tied it up, we had to do what we've been working on in practice,” Uhlir said. 'Stay focused, do what we do, and shots would fall.”

'Coach was telling us to keep possession,” said Bohannon, a junior with offers from Northern Iowa and Drake. 'Keep the ball and be smart with it. Move it around and get what we wanted. Don't get too speeded up, get what we want offensively. Down the stretch, I thought we did a good job of that.”

UhBo can shoot it from anywhere, and Robertson has given them the green light at anytime. But Linn-Mar clearly was at its best when it worked for shots.

'The one thing we're doing a little bit is we're in a hurry on offense, shooting it too quick,” Robertson said. 'A lot of that is they have a lot of confidence, and you want that. Yet we're a lot better when the ball moves around a little bit.”

Linn-Mar did a good job defending Wash's shooting threat, Jared Printy, holding him scoreless in the first quarter. He did finish with 10 points, with the 6-6 Arrington leading the way with 13.

The Warriors (1-1) outrebounded Linn-Mar by a substantial 36-24 margin, but 18 turnovers were costly.

'This was a big road test for our guys,” said Washington Coach Adam Sanchez. 'We had some young kids out there, some guys that don't have a lot of varsity experience ... Obviously the difference was Bohannon and Uhlir. Those are two really good guards who understand how to play, have won a lot of games. They're experienced late in the game like that. Once they get a lead, they can just kind of run the clock out with their ballhandling. You've got to foul them, and they shoot free throws.”

Sanchez expresssed confidence that his club will continue to get stronger as the season goes along. Guys like Arrington and starting forward Keegan Moore got late starts because of a long football season, and there are players ineligible the first part of the season that the coach believes will return and help out.

'I just think their experience kind of took over,” Sanchez said. 'And we lost our composure a little bit.”

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AT LINN-MAR

C.R. WASHINGTON (41): Steven Kramer 0-4 0-0 0, Maurice Arrington 6-13 1-3 13, Keegan Moore 1-4 0-0 3, Drew Hoeger 2-3 0-1 4, Jared Printy 4-10 1-1 10, Keion Wills 2-6 2-3 7, Laveechie Williams 2-3 0-0 4, Hunter Strait 0-2 0-0 0, Noah Dawson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-46 4-8 41.

LINN-MAR (54): Lane Halupnik 0-2 2-4 2, Trevor Noble 2-4 0-0 4, Ryan Schmidt 1-2 1-2 3, Jordan Bohannon 5-14 7-8 19, Nic Uhlir 5-12 5-7 16, Jason Tichy 4-7 0-1 9, Jordan Brandt 0-2 0-0 0, Riley Murphy 0-2 0-1 0, Beau Klostermann 0-0 1-2 1. Totalss 17-45 16-25 54.

Halftime - Linn-Mar 25, Washington 20. 3-point goals - Washington 3-14 (Kramer 0-3, Arrington 0-2, Moore 1-3, Hoeger 0-1, Printy 1-2, Wills 1-3), Linn-Mar 4-17 (Bohannon 2-7, Uhlir 1-4, Tichy 1-2, Brandt 0-2, Murphy 0-2). Rebounds - Washington 36 (Arrington, Moore 7), Linn-Mar 24 (Bohannon 5). Total fouls - Washington 25, Linn-Mar 14. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Washington 18, Linn-Mar 6.