North Linn beats Marquette Catholic to win Iowa boys basketball state title

In a conversation about Iowa high school basketball, it's impossible to ignore the North Linn boys.

The top-ranked Lynx have competed in seven straight state title games, with their latest matchup coming against the No. 2-seed Marquette Catholic on Friday.

The Lynx was able to gain a fourth-quarter lead with a combination of efficient defense and clutch shots down the stretch to pull away with a 57-56 win over the Defenders in the 1A state title game.

"We played them earlier in the season and it was a tough battle, but we ended up on top, so we knew coming into this game... that it was going to come down to a few possessions and we had to have the lead at that point to win the ball game," said North Linn's Mason Bechen.

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The Lynx had three starters score in double digits. Bechen—who entered Friday’s game averaging 28.5 points per game at the state tournament— notched a team-high 24 points with seven rebounds and five assists. Breckyn Betenbender and Jake Van Etten each scored 11 points.

With the win, the Lynx clinched their third state championship in program history (‘19, ‘22, ‘24). They avenged their loss in last season's 1A state championship game.

"Last year it sucked to lose, but we had that mentality coming into this year that we wanted to be back down here again and try to win it," Bechen said.

North Linn finishes their season with a 26-1 record while Marquette Catholic falls to 26-2.

North Linn finds momentum in the later stages of the first quarter

It was a seesaw battle for momentum for the majority of the first quarter that featured three ties and four lead changes. But Betenbender helped shift the energy in the final two minutes of the opening frame.

A 3-pointer by Betenbender broke a tie that gave the Lynx a 15-12 advantage. He then snatched a steal on the following possession and found Cole Griffith for a fast break bucket, forcing the Defenders to take a timeout.

Marquette Catholic drained a layup off the timeout, but North Linn countered with a putback by Betenbender—who finished with nine first-quarter points.

"I had kind of struggled our quarterfinals and semifinal games--airballed a few 3-pointers--I usually don't do that but they just weren't feeling right coming off my hand. We got in the gym, and I was getting a lot of shots up before this game just hoping I can get back on track," Betenbender said. "[Cole Griffith] just kept telling me to shoot and finally I was hitting some, and then we just had to keep that team fired up being a leader [and] as a senior out there on the floor."

North Linn held onto their lead for the entire second quarter, but the Marquette Catholic continued to stay alive. The Defenders—who caught the turnover bug— had 13 first-half turnovers but limited the damage to keep it a three-point game at halftime.

The Lynx overcome a second half adversity

In basketball, no lead is safe, and the Lynx lost their advantage due, in large part to, hot 3-point shooting by the Defenders.

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Three 3-pointers in the third frame by Kannon Still helped the Defenders earn their first lead since the opening quarter. A three-point play by Bechen in the final minute of the third quarter tied the game at 44 apiece heading into the final eight minutes.

"The first message was to guard the guy that we know can shoot the 3-pointer, so we were supposed to not let him get the shots up," said North Linn coach Mike Hilmer. "We basically just said, 'We need to have good defensive possessions every time, don't have to rush our shots on the other end, get a good shot every time and hopefully we get the run that we need.'".

The Lynx heard their coach's message and delivered. Bechen grabbed a rebound and threw a full-court heave to Van Etten to take the lead. Van Etten went on to drain a pair of clutch layups down the stretch to help extend the Lynx advantage.

After Bechen was subbed out due to a large scratch on his arm, Marquette Catholic's Spencer Roeder made a layup that circled around the rim and made its way into the basket to cut the Lynx's lead to three points with under a minute left.

Bechen--who now sported a large wrap on his arm-- was back on the floor and was immediately fouled on an inbound pass attempt. He made his second free throw attempt-- which proved to be the most important of the game.

"That first free throw man, I had that wrap on. It was kind of hard to get my arm above my head," Bechen said. "I'm not going to make that an excuse, I just missed it but that second one was kind of clutch, I knew I had to make it."

North Linn held the Defenders to 5-of-15 from the field in the fourth quarter.

Bechen and Ty Pflughaupt earned spots in the 1A All-Tournament team, with Bechen earning team-captain honors.

Marquette Catholic proved that they are a state-caliber team

Despite the loss, Marquette Catholic’s resume speaks for itself. The Defenders earned hard-fought wins over 6-seed North Union and 3-seed Lake Milles to clinch a spot in the 1A state title game. It was their first state title game appearance since 2006.

"The fact that we were one basket away from taking a title against a team that has experience here is something that we're going to keep our head up with," said Marquette Catholic coach Isaac Sturm. "We battled until the end and I'm just proud of how the guys responded."

The Defenders will graduate three of their seniors in the starting rotation--Still, Caden Kettmann and Isaac Brinker. Roeder-- a junior--was named to the 1A All-Tournament team.

"I feel like we really played hard, some things just don't play your way," Roeder said. "We only lost by one, we really put on a fight...none of us were backing down nothing. I wouldn't want anyone else to do it with."

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: North Linn wins Iowa boys basketball state title over Marquette Catholic