Washington junior guard Brock Butterfield will have something to tell his children and grandchildren some day. He picked the pocket of a McDonald’s All-American.

Searching for their first win of the year, Butterfield and his Warrior teammates gave an impressive effort against No. 8 Linn-Mar before bowing, 62-56, Friday night at Washington.

The Warrior crowd roared in delight when Marcus Paige, a McDonald’s All-American selection, was stripped cleanly by Butterfield at midcourt in the second quarter. Paige fell to the ground as Butterfield scored an uncontested layup.

The play was a momentum-changer and confidence-builder and helped the upset-minded Warriors keep things close. The hosts outscored Linn-Mar 24-14 in the fourth quarter and came back from as many as 16 points down to make things interesting.

“I just kind of noticed that he wasn’t looking up the court,” Butterfield said of Paige. “One defender was coming and I went to jump him and reached in and got it.”

Butterfield said he didn’t think the steal will show up on YouTube. “He’s one of the best players I have ever played against,” Butterfield said.

Despite the miscue, Paige proved why he is one of the nation’s best with an array of silky-smooth moves and pull-up jumpers. He finished with 20 points, five steals and three assists on 8-of-19 shooting. He praised the scrappy Warriors.

“We kind of took them for granted and that got in our heads a bit,” Paige said. “They came out and had a great game plan and played hard, really fought the whole game. We just had a couple of possessions where we were able to convert at the end.”

Paige chuckled when asked if he will get a lifetime supply of Big Mac hamburgers as a McDonald’s All-American.

“I need a couple of Big Macs to beef up a bit,” he joked. “It really means a lot to me to have the opportunity to play in the McDonald’s game.”

Paige said he had two big personal goals this season: To play in the McDonald’s All-American Game and The Jordan Brand Classic, the two most prestigious all-star events for the nation’s best high school players. He’s accepted invitations to both.

“A couple of my individual goals at the beginning of the year were to get to go to those games, so to see that come full circle and actually happen is a great feeling,” he said.

The Jordan Brand Classic selections were announced a week ago. The game will be played April 14 in Charlotte, N.C. The McDonald’s Game will take place on March 28 at Chicago’s United Center. Both games will be carried by ESPN.

“A lot of those guys who will be in the games with me I became good friends with over the summer, so I am looking forward to playing with them again,” Paige said.

It isn’t lost on Paige that some of the greatest names in basketball history have played in the McDonald’s game, including Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James and Dwight Howard, among others.

“It feels great,” he said of playing in a prestigious event that has featured NCAA, NBA and Olympic stars. “I have worked hard. I had a really good summer with my AAU team. I’m having a pretty good senior year and to be able to cap it off to get to go to a couple of those all-star games really means a lot to me and I am glad I have that opportunity.”

Paige is the first Cedar Rapidian since Kennedy’s Al Lorenzen in 1984 to be named a McDonald’s All-American and only the fifth male in state history, joining Harrison Barnes, Nick Collison, Raef LaFrentz and Lorezen.

Paige, who leads Class 4A in scoring at 26.8 points per game, said he was staying focused on the upcoming postseason tournament.

“I am not thinking too far ahead,” he said. “We still have some work to do this season.”

Washington Coach Brad Metzger called Paige one of the best he has ever seen.

“Being in Indiana we saw Greg Odom and Zach Randolph, guys that are in the NBA,” he said. “Marcus is probably on that path as well. He’s about as smooth a player as I have seen.

“He can just score in bunches. He makes getting 30 (points) seem like it’s 10. It is so hard to contain him. Definitely, he’s got an incredible future ahead,” Metzger said.

“He’s up there. I can only mention NBA guys and he is right there with the best I have seen. If there is an elite category, he is in it.”

Surprisingly, Paige wasn’t even the high scorer Friday night. Washington center Sean Bredl played the best game of his life with a career-high 24-points on 8-of-13 shooting. He also had six rebounds.

Butterfield had nine points, five rebounds and three steals. David Tann added eight points, five assists and five boards for the Warriors.

Matt Lassen hit two 3-pointers and had eight points for Linn-Mar. Jimmy Roth added eight points and seven rebounds, while 6-foot-8 center Derik Gogg had eight points and eight boards.

Linn-Mar had just one more field goal than Washington. The Warriors (0-18, 0-14) shot 44 percent from the floor, while the Lions netted 49 percent.

Metzger said, “I think if we can keep up that effort and show character at this point in the year, that is the biggest thing for us. It is easy to get your head down in the position we are in.

"I think it is a real character check for all of us to keep trying, keep doing the best we can, and show a lot of character out there and show some heart no matter the situation.”

Linn-Mar boss Chris Robertson took his hat off to the Warriors.

“They have played us tough twice,” he said. “I give them a lot of credit. For a team that doesn’t have any wins, they have a lot of heart. They play hard.

"I hope they get a win. They play this hard this late in the season, they deserve a win. I thought it was going to happen tonight for awhile.”

Robertson is hesitant to call Paige the best he’s ever coached.

“That is hard because I don’t want to take anything away from some of the other guys because obviously I have been fortunate to coach a lot of really great players,” he said. “But he is certainly right up there at the top.”

Linn-Mar led 23-20 at the half and 48-32 after three quarters, but Robertson was not happy about his team’s performance.

“I am glad it is over,” he said. “We weren’t very good. We weren’t very sharp on either end of the floor. I told the guys at halftime that we got outplayed and I think we got outplayed in the second half, too.

“We got up, but we didn’t put them away. It was disappointing. Coming off a big win against Dubuque Senior and having a chance to go out and win a conference championship, our guys weren’t very good tonight. So, I hope we learn a lesson and come out ready to play Tuesday.”

Linn-Mar (15-4, 11-3) has a one-game lead over Dubuque Senior in the Mississippi Division of the MVC with two games left. Senior was beaten by Wahlert, 55-52, Friday night.

The Lions host Jefferson on Tuesday, while Washington hosts Senior.

LINN-MAR (62): Zach Martins 0 2-2 2, Matt Lassen 2 2-4 8, Marcus Paige 8 3-3 20, Jimmy Roth 2 3-5 8, Matt Meier 0 3-4 3, Andy Henry 4 0-0 8, Jon Schlotterback 2 1-2 5, Derik Gogg 4 0-1 8. Totals 22 14-21 62.

WASHINGTON (56): David Tann 4 0-0 8, Brock Butterfield 3 1-3 9, Cybryan Moa 1 0-0 2, Peter Holmes 3 1-1 7, Jason Oney 2 1-3 6, Sean Bredl 8 8-9 24. Totals 21 11-16 56.

Halftime – Linn-Mar 23 Washington 20, 3-point goals – Linn-Mar 4 (Lassen 2, Paige 1, Roth 1). Washington 3 (Butterfield 2, Oney 1).

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