It's a fact of life those affiliated with the Linn-Mar boys' basketball program accepted and ran with at least seven years ago: There is no better place to be during the second week of March than beautiful downtown Des Moines.

Linn-Mar teams so much enjoy the ambience of the capital city in late winter you couldn't blame them for making their travel plans to the Class 4A boys' state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena a year in advance.

This year's second-ranked and second-seeded Lions (22-1) were scheduled to take on unranked and No. 7-seeded Clinton (17-6) in a 4A quarterfinal Wednesday night, March 10. Linn-Mar caught the Pony Express to Wells Fargo by virtue of its white-knuckle, hold-your-breath 49-46 win over Pleasant Valley in a substate tournament final March 2 at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Cedar Rapids. It was the Lions' 21st straight win.

It marked the seventh straight year the Lions have spent early March in Des Moines, and the eighth time overall. In their previous trips, they won three state championships (1983, '04, '07) finished as runners-up twice ('05, '09), earned a third-place trophy once ('08) and finished fourth once ('06). They never failed to reach the final four.

Making the trip west down I-80 just never gets old for anyone involved with the program.

"It's special," Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson said after the Pleasant Valley victory. "I know a lot of people outside maybe talk about the seven years, but for a lot of these kids, it's their first trip. We want to make sure it's a great trip for them. Our experienced players know what it's all about. We're relieved and excited about moving on."

Just about everyone is handing this year's 4A state championship to defending state champion Ames, winners of 50 straight games and ranked No. 1 in the state of Iowa and No. 4 in USA Today's national prep poll. Ames beat Linn-Mar in last year's state championship game.

The Lions weren't looking past anyone and ahead to the Little Cyclones. Their focus early this week was on Clinton, and only Clinton.

"This was our goal from the beginning of the season, and we really expected to be here," junior swingman Josh Montague said. "Our last three games of the (regular) season really prepared us for the tournament, with Kennedy, Iowa City West and Cedar Falls. Every time it's a treat and it's an amazing feeling to be back (at state) again. You never take it for granted."

Linn-Mar sophomore point guard Marcus Paige played about five minutes against Pleasant Valley after missing the previous two games because of a bout with mononucleosis. He was expected to play Wednesday against Clinton, but how much was not known.

He has been replaced in the starting lineup by junior Michael Thul.

"Our main thing is 'next man in' and Michael (Thul) is the next man in, he's filled in for Marcus, and he's done a terrific job," junior Matt Bohannon said. "Fortunately we got Marcus back for a few minutes (March 2) and he's getting back into it. We've just tried to do the same things we've done all season."

The Lions used an 11-0 run that spanned the final minute of the first quarter and early second quarer to build an 18-6 lead over Pleasant Valley, and led, 25-13, at halftime. But the Spartans clawed back, and when Brett Ahlgren popped in a 12-foot jumper with 3:30 left in the game, Linn-Mar's lead had been whittled to 41-40.

Bohannon hit six straight free throws to put the Lions back up, 47-40, with 36.7 seconds left, but Ahlgren and Ben Alpen drilled 3-pointers for the Spartans to make it 47-46 with just 6 seconds left. Bohannon was fouled again on the in-bounds play and hit two more free throws with 4.1 seconds left for the Lions' final 49-46 advantage.

"We anticipated that it was going to be a great game," Bohannon said. "They were everything we prepared for. They were aggressive, physical, everything we thought coming in, and they did exactly that."

Bohannon finished with 21 points, thanks to 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and a 9-of-12 effort from the free throw line. He also grabbed a team-high five rebounds.

Montague was a perfect 6-of-6 shooting and finished with 12 points and four rebounds. Will Roth added 10 points and four boards.

After that effort, it was time to pack for Des Moines.

"It's another great group of guys," Robertson said. "They work hard and I think they've really come together as a group, and at the beginning that was the part we were searching for. This group has great leadership. Our seniors are tremendous."