If you arrived late or blinked at the beginning of the game, you missed a flurry by the Jefferson boys’ basketball team. It was like that all night on Dec. 10.

The J-Hawks drubbed Iowa City High, 70-19, in a Mississippi Valley Conference mismatch at Jefferson.

Jefferson led, 48-5, at halftime.

Just over a minute into the game, Jefferson found itself leading 7-0. Iowa City High remained scoreless until the 5:10 mark of the first quarter as the J-Hawks grabbed a commanding a 21-3 advantage.

Taylor Olson continued his hot starts, scoring nine points in the first period for the third-ranked J-Hawks.

“We moved the ball pretty well in the zone and moved the ball around to get our teammates a lot of great shots,” said Coach Stu Ordman.

The second quarter was more of the same. The J-Hawk defense, behind senior standout Jarrod Uthoff, snagged three steals in the span of one minute, capping two of them with dunks.

Jefferson forced the Little Hawks into 19 first-half turnovers.

“We challenged our guys to play what we planned and for the most part they executed pretty well,” said Ordman. “City struggled with some of our pressure.”

With the new state rule of the continuous clock, the second half went by in a flash. The starters entered the game for the first few minutes and exited, giving way to the remaining bench.

The second half was more of the same. No matter what player entered the game, the defensive intensity remained the same.

Jefferson (3-0, 1-0 MVC) had three players in double figures. Uthoff led the way with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Olson added 15 points and Alec
Saunders had 10.

The J-Hawks visit Marion Saturday night.

“We have a lot to work on, but they’re a very considerate, unselfish group of young men,” said Ordman. “So far they have let us coach them pretty hard.”

The J-Hawk sophomores suffered their first defeat of the season, 41-36.

CITY HIGH(19): Simpson 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 1-2 1, Thompson 1 0-0 2, Barfield 0 0-0 0, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Stika 0 0-0 0, Duncan 1 0-0 3, Powell-Littler 1 0-0 2, McNulty 0 0-0 0, Hein 0 2-2 2, Perry 2 0-0 5, oung 1 0-0 2. Totals 7 3-6 19.

JEFFERSON (70): Meiborg 2 0-0 4, Kramer 1 0-0 2, Olson 5 3-4 15, Saunders 4 2-2 10, Uthoff 7 7-7 21, Brown 0 0-0 0, Larson 1 0-0 3, Heying 1 0-0 2, Denny 3 0-0 6, Rooney 0 3-4 3, Hemphill 1 0-0 2, Steckler 0 0-0 0, Selberg 1 0-0 2, Kelly 0 0-0 0, Mueller 0 0-0 0, Goodell 0 0-0 0, Eivins 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 15-17 70.

Halftime — Jefferson 48, City High 5. 3-point goals— City High 2 (Thompson 1, Duncan 1); Jefferson 3 (Olson 2, Larson 1).