Metro Sports Report

An historic night for Metro boys basketball

It was an historic night for Metro boys basketball Tuesday at the U.S. Cellular Center.
 
Everyone who follows high school basketball around these parts was well aware that we have been witnessing something very special this season. That fact was validated when four boys Metro teams qualified for the state tournament in Des Moines next week.

Never before has the Metro sent four teams. On three other occassions three teams qualified. When the postseason pairings were released early last month, many of us realized this could be the year for this amazing breakthrough.
 
Now it has happened.
 
Enjoy it everyone ... because you never know when a year like this with great teams and amazingingly talented individuals is going to come around again. The last time, in my judgment, was 27 years ago.
 
Now, let's take a look at the Metro's prospects this year in Des Moines.
 

Linn-Mar, Prairie open indoor season strong

WAVERLY -- Brandon Ophoff and Kyle Dunn of Linn-Mar finished 1-2 in the 55 meter high hurdles at the Wartburg Indoor Track meet Tuesday.

Dunn, the state champion in the 400 hurdles last year, won his heat in 7.75 seconds, but Ophoff nipped him by two-hundredths of a second in the finals, clocking 7.86 to Dunn's 7.88.

Linn-Mar won the 800 relay and 1600 relay. Michael Detert, Aaron Hunter, Tommy Feller and Jake Luerkens ran the 800 relay. Dunn, Nick Lucas, Jordan Kremer and Matt Simon ran on the 1600 relay.

Prairie captured the sprint medley relay and the 3200 relay. Josh Rundall, Bryce Alberts, Matt Stocker and Jordan Burns ran the sprint medley. Kyle Stocker, Justin Burns, Matt Stocker and Jordan Burns captured the 3200 relay.

Kyle Stocker took second in the 400 dash in 54.91.

Taylor Vogel won the girls 200 meter dash for Washington in 26.82 seconds. Leslie Harder of Prairie won the high jump at 5-feet.

Kristin Rogers of Washington placed second in the 3000 meter run in 11:12.85. Hannah Grimm of Prairie took second in the high school jump at 5-feet.

Lions back to state for 8th straight time

North Scott tried a gimmick defense that had some success against Linn-Mar standouts Marcus Paige and Matt Bohannon on Tuesday night in a Class 4A substate tournament at the U.S. Cellular Center.

But it turned out the only way to truly shutout Bohannon was by latching the locker room door.

Bohannon's steal and coast-to-coast layup highlighted a 25-0 Linn-Mar run that carried the top-ranked Lions past North Scott, 50-25, and into the boys state basketball tournament for a record eighth straight year.

The Lions (23-0) earned the top seed in the tournament and will play eighth seeded Cedar Rapids Washington (17-8) next Wednesday (March 9) at 1:45 p.m.  The Warriors whipped Dubuque Hempstead, 56-31, in Tuesday's nightcap at the U.S. Cellular Center. Linn-Mar beat Washington twice during the regular season, 80-55 and 62-41.

Linn-Mar will be after its third state title in the last eight years. The Lions started their consecutive tourney appearance streak in 2004, when they won the Class 4A state title. They also won it in 2007.   The Lions had been tied with Cedar Rapids Regis for the longest streak of consecutive state tournament appearances. The Royals went seven straight times from 1989-95.

"Eight straight, people might say it gets old," said Bohannon, who scored 10 of his game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter. "But it never gets old. Every time is sweet. For some of us, this is our third time there. I can honestly say that the other two times have been good, but going back there is going to be great."

Paige and Ian McBrayer added 10 points apiece for Linn-Mar.  Darren Dillon had 12 points for North Scott (16-7).

J-Hawks escape and are off to state

CEDAR FALLS -- The collective "Phew" could be heard all the way back to the west side of Cedar Rapids Tuesday night.

The Jefferson boys basketball team is going back to the state tournament for the ninth time in school history.

Barely. Sparingly. Nervously.

It was eighth-ranked Jefferson 57, underdog Waterloo West 55 in the Class 4A substate finals at the McLeod Center on the University of Northern Iowa campus. And "Phew" doesn't begin to describe how the J-Hawks escaped.

Jefferson (17-5) will face third-ranked Des Moines Hoover (21-2) in the opening round of the state tournament on Wednesday, March 9 at 8:15 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

DiMarco Mallett missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer Tuesday night that would have given Waterloo West (9-15) an improbable trip to the state tournament with a losing record.

"We kept saying, 'Give ourselves a chance, Give ourselves a chance,' and we did," said Waterloo West Coach Justin Little. "We had a shot. It looked good to me and it just missed."

Jarrod Uthoff and his long arms bothered Mallett just enough on the final shot of this tense chess match. The J-Hawks whipped Waterloo West by 30 points in January at Waterloo West, but the Wahawks upset Cedar Falls in the substate semifinals last Friday and were hungry for more.

"It was kind of ripe for an upset," said Jefferson Coach Stu Ordman. "They had nothing to lose."

On the other hand, Jefferson had everything to lose.