Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson yelled at Marcus Paige during the championship game of the Class 4A state basketball tournament in Des Moines last March.

It happened during a timeout. Robertson didn't like the way Paige and the Lions were playing and let him know it.

Rest assured, it was one of the few times Robertson snapped at Paige during his four-year career in a Linn-Mar uniform.

"Not very often. Probably a handful of times," Robertson said. "He's one of those guys, he understands the game so well. If he makes a mistake, he's usually patting himself first before I get a chance to do it.

"He's special. He's a neat kid," Robertson said. "We're going to miss him."

The members of the Iowa Newspaper Association recognized his special talents on Tuesday and named Paige the winner of the "Mr. Basketball" award for 2012.

Paige was the featured player on the Class 4A all-state first team. Taylor Olson of Cedar Rapids Jefferson was named second team all-state in Class 4A and Matt MacDougall of Cedar Rapids Prairie was named third team all-state in Class 4A.

Paige, a 6-foot-2 guard, is the second straight player from the Metro area to be named "Mr. Basketball" and the seventh overall from Marion and Cedar Rapids since the award began in 1981.

Jarrod Uthoff of Cedar Rapids Jefferson was crowned "Mr. Basketball" for 2011. The other Metro winners were Jason Bohannon of Linn-Mar in 2006, Justin Wessel of Cedar Rapids Prairie in 1996, Adam Spanich of Cedar Rapids Regis in 1995, Al Lorenzen of Cedar Rapids Kennedy in 1984 and Todd Lumsden of Linn-Mar in 1983.

Paige helped Linn-Mar compile a sparkling 93-11 record during his varsity career and finish 2nd, 3rd, 1st and 4th at the state tournament. He finished with 1,695 points and will take his talents to the North Carolina Tar Heels next season.

Paige said Saturday at the state tournament in Des Moines that being named "Mr. Basketball" would mean a lot to him. He evolved during his career at Linn-Mar and averaged 28.0 points this season because the Lions needed him to score. "For a lot of my career I was a passer and distributor," he noted.

Paige was joined on the Class 4A all-state first team by Adam Woodbury of Sioux City East, Kale Abrahamson of West Des Moines Valley, Josh Weeber of Dubuque Senior, Dondre Alexander of Iowa City West, Cole Myers of Ankeny, Jeremy Morgan of Iowa City West and James Harrington of Cedar Falls.

Olson, a 6-foot-1 guard, averaged 18.4 points for Jefferson this season. MacDougall, a 6-foot-4 wing player, averaged 14.3 points for Prairie.