It's come down to a four-week sprint to the postseason for the Linn-Mar boys' basketball team, and the Lions are springing from the blocks like Jamaican world class sprinter Usain Bolt.

Class 4A third-ranked Linn-Mar ran its winning streak to 11 games with a pair of Mississippi Valley Conference wins last week over Waterloo West and Cedar Rapids Washington, and has positioned itself nicely for runs at an MVC Valley Division title and a No. 1 seed in next month's substate tournament pairings.

The Lions' 58-44 win over West Jan. 19 and their defensive-minded 46-33 triumph over Washington last Friday left them with an overall record of 12-1 and an undefeated MVC count of 8-0 as they headed into Tuesday night's home game against Dubuque Wahlert.

The win over the Warriors was especially gratifying, considering Washington came in on a four-game winning streak of its own. The gym was nearly full, and the crowd included Iowa State coach Greg McDermott, Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson and an unidentified Kansas assistant coach, all most likely on hand to observe Linn-Mar sophomore point guard Marcus Paige.

"We knew it was going to be a great atmosphere. Because of the way they've been playing, there's a lot of excitement over here right now," Linn-Mar coach Chris Robertson said after the win. "This is really our first intercity rivalry game on the road, and we knew we were going to have to be ready to go. I just thought our guys were really focused all night, especially on the defensive end. We didn't play our best offensive game, but a lot of that had to do with (the Warriors).

"It's a great win for us on the road and great confidence builder for us heading down the stretch."

Neither Linn-Mar nor Washington played well offensively. The Lions were 15 of 40 from the floor (37.5 percent) and the Warriors even worse at 9 of 45 (20 percent). Paige led the Lions with 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting and Matt Bohannon added 10, although Bohannon was just 2 of 11 from the floor and 1 of 7 from 3-point range.

But the Linn-Mar defense rose to the task, led by the play of Jody Henton off the bench. Henton didn't score, but helped limit Washington's leading scorers Josh Oglesby and Wesley Washpun to just 20 total points, 15 below their combined average. The duo was a combined 5 of 25 from the floor and eight of Washpun's team-high 13 points came from the free throw line.

"They've been playing real well right now and I think they've been playing with a lot of confidence," Robertson said of the Warriors. "I was very, very pleased with the way our team defended tonight. Obviously, Oglesby is a great offensive player and I was just very pleased with the way we focused all night. He didn't get many free looks and I thought we made him look, and that was our plan. I just couldn't be happier with the way we defended tonight."

Linn-Mar led 23-11 after a pair of free throws from Darius Stokes at the 2:41 mark of the second quarter, but Washington used a mini-run to pull within 25-17 at halftime. Washpun drove the lane for a layup to bring the Warriors within 29-28 at the 2:13 mark of the third period, but Shane Benton drained a big 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Lions a 32-28 lead heading into the final period.

The Lions outscored the Warriors, 14-5, in the fourth quarter for their final margin of victory.

"Coming in we knew they were hot and they were on a pretty nice win streak," said Paige, who played with the poise of a battle-tested veteran. "We did a great job in the first half defensively, but then they came out on fire and we knew we had to stop that, and our whole team played great team defense and we were able to pull it out."

Josh Montague came off the bench to lead Linn-Mar with eight rebounds, and Henton and Will Roth each grabbed seven. The Lions won the battle of the boards, 37-26.

Bohannon netted 18 points and Roth 14 in the win over West. Bohannon drained four 3-pointers and he, Roth and Paige each snagged six rebounds. The Lions managed to expand a precarious three-point halftime lead in the second half.

After Tuesday's game with Wahlert, the Lions were scheduled to travel to Cedar Rapids Xavier Friday and host Iowa City High this Tuesday.