The Linn-Mar Lions walked slowly to their locker room Friday night, disappointed with their first homecourt loss in four years and worried about injured teammate Matt Lassen.

Jeremy Morgan tossed in a career-high 33 points and Dondre Alexander scored 21 as fourth-ranked Iowa City West defeated the top-ranked Lions, 75-63, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Linn-Mar.

It was a tough night all-around for Linn-Mar, which lost its first game at home since Dec. 18, 2007, lost a key player and undoubtedly lost its No. 1 ranking.

Lassen hit his head on the floor when he fell in the first quarter and was taken to St. Luke's Hospital for treatment of a possible concussion. He left the Linn-Mar gym on a stretcher.

"Our trainer said that he's stable. His vitals are good," Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson reported. "He's going to spend the night in the hospital.

"My guess is he's probably not going to play through Christmas. I'm sure he won't pass a concussion test. In the big picture, all things look good."

Lassen is a 6-foot-4 junior and a member of the starting lineup. Ironically, he committed to the University of Albany (N.Y.) on Thursday and was looking forward to competing against Iowa City West in a key matchup.

"He was excited about tonight and ready to play," Robertson said. "To go down early, that was tough."

Lassen was guarding Jacob Gylten on a drive to the basket. There was contact and Lassen fell to the floor, hitting his head when he landed. The play continued and Marcus Paige blocked Gylten's shot, but Paige accidentally landed on top of Lassen and knocked Lassen's head onto the court again.

Linn-Mar thought Gylten may have charged into Lassen, but no call was made.

"When he took the charge, there was a lot of contact and he went down pretty hard," said Paige. "And I think I came down on him, just because there were a lot of bodies in the area.

"It's unfortunate it happened. We're hoping he's going to be all right."

The game was delayed more than 15 minutes while Lassen was treated on the floor, attended to by the Linn-Mar trainer, Robertson, Lassen's parents (Ron and Sue Lassen), Linn-Mar athletic director Scott Mahmens and emergency medical personnel, who were summoned to the gym.

Lassen plays AAU basketball during the summer with Iowa City West stars Alexander and Morgan, so there was concern on both teams.

"He's one of my best friends," said Morgan. "I was scared when he went down. He started shaking at one point and I had to look away. It was kind of scary."

Iowa City West led, 13-12, when Lassen was injured. The Trojans went on an 11-2 run when play resumed to grab a 24-14 advantage, with the Lions trying to regain their equilibrium after seeing their teammate leave the gym on a stretcher.

Iowa City West opened a 15-point advantage in the second quarter and led 44-31 at halftime, scoring on 16 of 30 possessions in the first two periods. The Trojans got numerous offensive rebounds and had too many open shots against the Lions in the first half.

Linn-Mar (2-1) pulled within six points at 67-61 on a Paige steal and layup with 1:13 left in the game, but Iowa City West (4-0) hit eight straight free throws in the final 67 seconds to clinch the victory.

The Trojans went 21 of 22 at the foul line, compared to 25 of 32 for Linn-Mar.

Paige finished with 29 points, maintaining his scoring average through the first three games of the season. Matt Meier scored 10 points off the bench for the Lions.

Alexander and Morgan played last year for Iowa City West as sophomores and served notice Friday night that the Trojans could be a contender for the state title this season.

"They're good. I mean, they were good a year ago," said Iowa City West Coach Steve Bergman. "Jeremy had struggled shooting, so I guess he saved them all up for tonight. I was joking in there (the locker room), I called him Ali Farokhmanesh."

Farokhmanesh starred at Iowa City West before playing at Kirkwood Community College and the University of Northern Iowa, where he hit a big 3-pointer in the final seconds to help Northern Iowa beat No. 1 Kansas in the NCAA tournament a couple of years ago.

Morgan hurt Linn-Mar with his soft shots from the perimeter, including four 3-pointers, and went 9 for 9 at the foul line. Alexander hit two 3-pointers, but did most of his damage on strong moves to the basket.

"The scary thing is, they're both getting better and they're both only juniors," Robertson said. "When Morgan shoots like that, they're going to be really tough to beat."

Morgan scored 36 points in Iowa City West's first three games this season for a 12-point average before torching the Lions for 33. The Trojans have won all four of their games on the road this season.

"They're really good. There's no doubt," said Robertson. "I wasn't joking when I said they're probably the best team in the state coming out of last year, with all the experience they have coming back."

Linn-Mar had not lost a home game since falling to Iowa City High, 77-70, in double overtime on Dec. 18, 2007. Paige began playing for the varsity as a freshman during the 2008-09 campaign and had never lost a game on his home floor.

"Any time you have a three-year winning streak on your home court and you lose, it's kind of tough," he said.

IOWA CITY WEST (75): Dondre Alexander 9 1-1 21, Jeremy Morgan 10 9-9 33, Wyatt Lohaus 1 5-6 7, Jacob Gylten 2 4-4 8, Myzeah Batie-Gaddy 2 0-0 4, Tavian Smith 0 0-0 0, Richard Bryant 0 2-2 2, Jason Stewart 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 21-22 75.

LINN-MAR (63): Matt Lassen 0 0-0 0, Jimmy Roth 1 1-2 4, Derik Gogg 3 2-2 8, Andy Henry 2 1-4 5, Marcus Paige 9 9-9 29, Nate Dick 0 1-2 1, Zach Martins 0 0-0 0, Jon Schlotterback 0 6-8 6, Matt Meier 2 5-5 10, Jacob Hutchins 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 25-32 63.

Halftime - Iowa City West 44, Linn-Mar 31. 3-point goals - Iowa City West 6 (Morgan 4, Alexander 2), Linn-Mar 4 (Paige 2, Roth 1, Meier 1). Fouled out - Alexander, Batie-Gaddy.