The first order of business for Marcus Paige was obvious.
“Rest for a little bit,” the Linn-Mar sophomore said Saturday after his team’s Class 4A state tournament consolation victory over Sioux City East.
Paige contracted mononucleosis late in the regular season and missed the final game. He sat out Linn-Mar’s first substate game and played noticeably less than 100 percent the rest of the way.
The 6-foot-1 lefty point guard was sure something when he was healthy. He averaged 14 points, shot better than 60 percent from the field most of the season …

DES MOINES — Ladies and gentlemen, here’s your overwhelming favorite for the Class 2A state basketball championship in 2011. If it’s fair to look a year ahead.
The Western Christian Wolfpack pocketed their sixth title last night, preventing Solon from a 2A repeat with a 58-45 victory at Wells Fargo Arena.
The almost overwhelming thing about this WC team is that there was one senior of any significance. Of course, point guard Bryce Groeneweg was the all-tournament captain, so he’ll be missed.
But everyone else is back, and that includes a lot of …

DES MOINES — The best player in Iowa history? The best team in Iowa history?
You make the call.
Make no mistake, Harrison Barnes is a great basketball player. You don’t get handed the Morgan Wootten Award as the nation’s top prep, as he did Wednesday, without being special.
And he was unstoppable at times in the second half as his team eased to a 57-44 Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal win over Cedar Rapids Washington at Wells Fargo Arena. But without trying to sound too homerish here, if Ames is the best …

DES MOINES — Same game. Different winner.
Longtime former Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference rivals Solon and Mid-Prairie played a duplicate of their regular-season encounter Tuesday afternoon at the boys’ state basketball tournament. This time it was Solon building a big lead and holding on to win a Class 2A quarterfinal, 50-46.
Mid-Prairie won the December meeting in almost identical fashion, 55-52. Deja vu all over again, as they say.
“Yep. Exact same plot,” said Mid-Prairie guard Michael Aldeman. “Just switched.”
Solon (24-2) plays IKM-Manning (25-0) in a 3:45 p.m. Thursday semifinal, and the defending …

The Gazette’s Jeff Johnson will provide live coverage of today’s games that matches two Eastern Iowa schools: Solon and Mid-Prairie.
Photos by Liz Martin
Solon vs. Mid-Prairie

DES MOINES — It can be argued that the Metro has never been stocked with so many big fish at one time.
Kiah Stokes, Morgan Paige and Jade Rogers and high-level Division-I players, one and all.
First-team all-staters, too.
Sportswriters selected the trio — and four others from the area — to the top team in their respective classes during Iowa Newspaper Association girls’ basketball all-state voting Saturday.
Stokes, a junior at Linn-Mar with a state championship and college offers galore, was named to the Class 4A first team. So was Rogers, a Cedar …

Jeff Linder will provide live coverage of Linn-Mar’s game at 10 a.m. and Cedar Rapids Kennedy at 11:30 a.m.
Live Coverage: State Basketball

DES MOINES — Morgan Paige had the points. Carli Tritz had the help.
Top-rated Sioux City Heelan dominated the glass and defeated No. 8 Marion, 69-61, in a Class 3A quarterfinal at the girls’ state basketball tournament Tuesday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.
Afterward, Indians Coach Sherryl Gaffney-Paige announced her resignation.
“Our administration knows,” she said. “It’s time for me to watch my son (Marcus, a sophomore at Linn-Mar). I’ve missed a lot of his games.
“I’ll miss it, but it’s time for a change.”
Gaffney-Paige closes a 10-year career at Marion with a 126-96 …

DES MOINES — Close games don’t come along every day for Manson-Northwest Webster.
The Cougars got a challenge Monday night, and met it.
Lauren Christianson hit two crucial baskets to break a fourth-quarter tie, then Morgan Markert nailed two free throws for the final margin as second-rated MNW turned back No. 8 MFL MarMac, 37-34, in a Class 2A quarterfinal at the girls’ state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.
The Cougars (23-1) weren’t home free until MFL MarMac’s Chelsey Lamker missed a 25-footer at the horn.
“We had a heck of an effort,” …

CEDAR RAPIDS — So how far was that game winning shot Josh Oglesby hit last night?
“I don’t even know. Like 50 feet?” said Evan Davis.
“It was a ways out there,” Oglesby said of his extra long 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left that helped give Cedar Rapids Washington a 43-41 win over Cedar Rapids Kennedy in a Class 4A substate semifinal last night at Washington. “I probably should have stepped in a little.”
Naw. The 23 or 24-foot range is just fine.
Oglesby ignored a cold-shooting night (2 of 9 from the field …