Sat - 01 Dec
Written by Tom Fruehling
The Linn-Mar boys are trying out a new swing offense this year, one that calls for passing the ball around more.
Not having Marcus Paige running the show for the first time in four years changes things a lot.
The system, however, does not call for the head coach to be kicked out of the game.
And when normally mild-mannered Lion Coach Chris Robertson was ejected after back-to-back technical fouls late in the third quarter at home Saturday night it was a game-changer.
After four Bettendorf free throws and a jump shot, Linn-Mar went from the having the ball and trailing by three points to suddenly being down by nine.
It’s not the kind of swing Robertson hoped to install. And while the Lions battled back to within a point while he was in the locker room, they couldn’t get over the hump and fell to the Bulldogs, 45-42.
While continuing to dispute the goaltending call that caused his automatic exit, Robertson took full blame afterward for his actions.
“I deserved it,” he calmly acknowledged. “I should have stopped arguing. I let the team down, and I let my staff down.”
The call that got his goat came when 6-foot-4 Jon Schlotterback was whistled for what one of the officials saw as blocking a floating Bettendorf shot on the way down to the basket.
“No way he (Schlotterback) was playing above the rim,” Robertson explained.
He voiced his displeasure to one official on the way down the court, then to the ref who’d made the original call after getting hit with first technical.
“I also complained about a couple of charging fouls when I thought they were flopping on defense,” the coach said. “But I should have shut up when I got the first one. I lot my cool a little bit, and it was no way to act.”
In 17 years of coaching, it was his first expulsion. He will now be automatically suspended from next Friday’s home game with Jefferson, but will be back on the bench next Saturday when Linn-Mar plays North Scott at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
Also missing in action for both of those games will be projected starting point Jimmy Roth, who is sitting out a four-game suspension for violation of team rules.
Robertson’s beef with the officiating was his second blow-up of the night, but the first was much more effective.
Bettendorf, now 2-0 after beating Washington 61-40 Friday night, jumped off to 7-2 lead that brought the head Lion out of his seat to call a timeout with less than two minutes gone in the game.
"We weren’t doing a couple of things right defensively,” he said. “But after we talked about it, I thought the guys responded.”
In fact, his chastened team went on a 13-0 run and held the Bulldogs scoreless for eight minutes.
When steady senior Matt Lassen converted a stolen ball into a layup Linn-Mar led 19-11.
Bettendorf ran off six straight on its own, but the Lions maintained a four-point cushion at halftime.
The Bulldogs’ stellar junior backcourt tandem of Dylan Sortillo and Cole Clearman each hit on a pair of drives to push their team back in the lead in the third quarter when the sideline fireworks erupted. Sortillo knocked down all four technical free throws, and Kendal Jacks followed with a jumper.
With Linn-Mar assistant Joe Nietert at the helm, the Lions roared back. Lassen hit his second three-pointer of the second half, 6-foot-8 big guy Derik Gogg scored from down low and it was a one-point game again at 43-42 with 2:16 to go.
The Lions came no closer, though, as Lassen and then long-range sharpshooter Nic Uhlir both missed 3-point attempts in the closing seconds.
Gogg, who was second to Lassen’s 12 points in scoring with nine of his own, said he felt the new offense worked well despite the loss.
“We’re trying to work the ball around more and moving without the ball. We have a lot of guys that can score, and we’re just trying to get good open looks,” he said.
The Lions (1-1) canned five 3-pointers. But missing 9 of 16 free throws and handing Sortillo four free tosses spelled defeat.
“Giving us those points was very nice,” said Bettendorf Coach Curtis Clark.
BETTENDORF (45): Dylan Sortillo 6 4-4 16, Cole Clearman 7 0-1 16, Ryan Tubbs 0 2-2 2, Kendal Jacks 3 0-0 7, Kris Klabunde 0 0-0 0, Tanner Reid 0 1-2 1, Nick Scott 0 0-0 0, Michael Lintz 0 0-0 0, Kyle Bushman 0 0-0 0, Nichola Baer 0 3-4 3. Totals 16 10-13 45.
LINN-MAR (42): Zach Martins 1 0-0 2, Matt Lassen 5 0-0 12, Jordan Bohannon 0 0-0 0, Jon Schlotterback 3 0-0 7, Derik Gogg 2 5-10 9, Nic Uhlir 2 0-0 6, Matt Meier 2 0-1 4, Ben Larson 0 0-0 0, Ryan Schmidt 0 2-5 2. Totals 15 7-16 42.
Halftime – Linn-Mar 25, Bettendorf 21. 3-point goals – Bettendorf 3 (Clearman 2, Jacks), Linn-Mar 5 (Uhlir 2, Lassen 2, Schlotterback). Total fouls – Bettendorf 18, Linn-Mar 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson 2 (ejected).
