Lassen Returns from Frightening Head Injury to Help Linn-Mar Top Dubuque Senior

By Mike Condon, Correspondent

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By James Steward

Story Created: Feb 7, 2012 at 11:53 PM CDT

Story Updated: Feb 7, 2012 at 11:53 PM CDT

MARION, Iowa – The biggest win for the Linn-Mar boys basketball team didn’t come on the scoreboard Tuesday night.

Yes, the Lions downed Dubuque Senior, 62-55, in a battle of Class 4A Top 10 teams before a large crowd in the Linn-Mar gym.

And yes, the win allowed Linn-Mar to gain a tie with the Rams atop the Mississippi Division of the Mississippi Valley Conference.

But the real victory on the night was the return of junior guard Matt Lassen to action after suffering a frightening head injury during a December game with Iowa City West.

Lassen came off the bench and played just under 10 minutes, contributing a 3-point field goal on his first attempt from the floor.

“We just wanted to kind of ease him out there and see what he could do,” said Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson. “That was probably the biggest win of the night, getting him back out there playing in front of the home crowd.”

Lassen’s return gave the Lions another weapon to compete against a Senior team that doesn’t start a player smaller than 6-foot-4.

The Rams, ranked sixth in 4A, jumped to an early seven-point advantage before Linn-Mar, ranked eighth, was able to adjust its defense.

“They’re big,” Robertson said. “The present a lot of match-up problems and we tried to play a little zone early which we haven’t done a lot of. All in all, I thought we defended pretty well.”

One player the Lions never really could stop was junior forward Josh Weeber, who finished with a game-high 28 points for the Rams (15-3, 10-3 MVC).

Linn-Mar led by four to start the fourth quarter and quickly built the lead to nine. Senior battled back and twice had a chance to cut the deficit to one in the final two minutes only to have point-blank shots from Weeber and Seth Bonifas not fall.

Marcus Paige led the Lions (14-4, 10-3) with 23 points. Jimmy Roth added 12.

The win moved the Lions into a tie with Senior for the division lead with three games to play.

“I like where we are at right now,” Robertson said. “A lot of people wrote these kids off when they were 0-2 to start the conference season and now we are in position to win the title.”

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