Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson had a fleeting thought Tuesday night when it looked like the Lions might lose in the substate finals to Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

This could be it, he realized. This could be Marcus Paige's final game for the Lions. And if so, he thought his star player deserved a chance to receive a final standing ovation from the fans.

Robertson began thinking about calling a timeout in the waning seconds of a lost cause so Paige could leave the game to a round of applause. He had a brief conversation with his assistant coaches when the situation looked bleak.

"When we got to about a minute left and it was still nine (a nine-point deficit), I kind of said to these guys, 'Well, we gave it a hell of an effort and it's just not meant to be, maybe.'

"And one of them said, 'Well, if we can get a 3,' and I said, 'Yeah.' And I was just thinking in my head, I want to make sure, if we are going to lose, I want Marcus to get a nice curtain call."

Robertson smiled Thursday as he told the story, because obviously the game had a spectacular ending for Linn-Mar and there was no reason to bid Paige a fond farewell.

"All of a sudden we made two free throws and it's seven," said Robertson. "Then he hits the 3 and got fouled. Then the thought left my mind for good."

Paige refused to lose. He scored nine points in the final 26 seconds of that fourth quarter, personally erasing an eight-point deficit with two free throws, a four-point play and a 3-pointer that tied the game with 8.5 seconds left and forced overtime.

Linn-Mar prevailed in double overtime, 83-77, and Paige officially ended with a school-record 49 points, lifting the Lions to their ninth straight Class 4A state tournament, an all-time record for any high school program in Iowa.

"I've never dreamed about being in a game like that," said Robertson, still amazed at the ending.

Linn-Mar (19-4) will face Dubuque Senior (18-5) in the quarterfinals of the state tournament at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Paige refused to lose Tuesday night, just like he refused to lose when he poured in 46 points to help Linn-Mar erase a 20-point deficit and beat Cedar Rapids Prairie. Then he refused to lose against Kennedy and topped his own school record with 49.

"I think that's just the personality of our entire team, and not just myself," Paige said Thursday. "When you love playing the game as much as we do, you never want to lose. You never want to give up.

"As much as you love winning, you have to hate losing. So I think that factors into it."

Paige has scored 1,620 points in his four-year career and needs 60 points in the state tournament to break the school mark of 1,679 set by 2006 grad Jason Bohannon.

"I didn't realize that, but that's probably the least of my worries right now," Paige said before practice. "We're just trying to get ready for Senior.

"If we are able to play multiple games, it could be a possibility, but we're just trying to get this win on next Wednesday."

Paige, a slender 6-foot-2 guard, leads the state in scoring at 28.4 points. He has a slim lead over Clay Harreld of Northeast Hamilton, who finished his season at 28.3 per game.

Paige has already established a new single-season record at Linn-Mar for making the most free throws in one season with 142, snapping the old mark of 137 set by Bohannon in 2005-06. He also has a clear shot at the top single-season scoring mark of 26.3, set by Todd Lumsden during the 1982-83 campaign for the Lions.

Robertson thought he'd seen everything from Paige, but he had to search for new adjectives when Paige torched Kennedy for 49 points in the substate finals.

"I think this performance really hit a lot of people, just to put that many points up," he said. "I mean 49 points, in such a high intensity game, against a team that really defends well.

"Nothing he does anymore surprises us. We're just trying to enjoy it as long as we can."

Paige is a slender assassin at 165 pounds, but he intends to get stronger when he heads to North Carolina this summer and joins the Tar Heels. He plans to work with Carolina's strength coach to get ready for the rigors of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

"They're not really looking for a specific number of pounds or anything," the left-hander said. "They told me to get a little bit stronger, because they know that will help me out a little bit at the next level."

Paige will play in the McDonald's All-American game in Chicago on March 28 and also will play in the Jordan Brand Classic in Charlotte, N.C., on April 14. Both of those games will be televised by ESPN, but right now he's focused on the state tournament.

The Lions are the defending champions and will be seeking the fifth state title in school history (1983, 2004, 2007, 2011).

"It's a lot of fun to go to state," said Paige, who will be playing in his fourth Class 4A tournament. "We have a lot of tradition to deal with down there, so it's nice to do it one last time."