Jefferson Boys Basketball

Ordman has embraced challenges all his life

Stu Ordman began going to state basketball tournaments in 1973 when he was the co-captain of the team at New Trier East High School that reached the state finals in Illinois.

He won two state titles as the girls basketball coach at Leavenworth High School in Kansas in 1988 and '89, and he reached the semifinals of the boys state tournament in Kansas when he was coaching at Shawnee Mission Northwest.

Now he's got Cedar Rapids Jefferson in the Class 4A boys state tournament for the third straight year and for the fourth time since he began coaching the J-Hawks in 1997.

Ordman has been coaching for 33 years and passionately enjoys what he's doing.

"It's part of my identity, I guess," he said Friday. "This has been a very rewarding year with this group of young men at Jefferson."

The J-Hawks (15-8) will be heavy underdogs when they face No. 1 Ankeny (23-0) in the quarterfinals of the state tournament on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, but it's a role they embrace and have overcome before.

Jefferson upset No. 3 Cedar Falls in the substate finals this past Tuesday at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls to earn the trip to Des Moines, where the challenge will be even greater. Ankeny features Ted Friedman, a 6-foot-9 center, and the undefeated Hawks boast an average margin of victory of 22 points per game.

"I think there's two things we can do," said Ordman. "One is try to find some human growth hormone real quick. The second one is maybe bite them in the knee. I'm kind of running out of ideas after that."

Ordman was kidding, of course. He enjoys a challenge and has welcomed them nearly his entire life.

He was an English Education major at the University of Iowa and did his student-teaching at an inner-city high school in Kansas City, accepting the challenge of working with under-served kids. He began his coaching career there and worked two practices a day, first as a varsity assistant and then as a freshman coach.

It wasn't long before many of the young teachers at Kansas City Central got "riffed" in a reduction in force, so Ordman accepted a job as the assistant sophomore coach with the boys program at Leavenworth before becoming the successful girls coach there.

He spent seven years at Leavenworth - "the high school, not the prison" - before moving to Shawnee Mission Northwest.

"It was called by basketball coaches the 'Toilet Bowl' of boys basketball," he said. "They'd only gone to state twice in 25 years and maybe had seven winning seasons.

"One of my fellow coaches said, 'The only reason you got this job is because no one else wanted it.' That first year we went 1-and-19, and I started four sophomores. And the next year we went to state."

Ordman had spent five years at Shawnee Mission Northwest when tragedy struck his family. His wife Ginny's sister, who lived in the Cedar Rapids area, was killed in a car accident, leaving behind six children.

"We decided to move up here and try to help," he said.

Ordman got the job at Cedar Rapids Jefferson in 1997 and has been there ever since. He led the J-Hawks to the state tournament in 1999, then again in 2010 and 2011.

This is Jefferson's third straight trip to the state tournament, the third-best streak among the Class 4A field. Linn-Mar is playing in the state tournament for the ninth straight time, a state record, and Sioux City East has made it four straight years.

Ordman is proud of the streak, which seems to have gone quietly unnoticed in some circles.

"We've had to change how we play every year," he said. "There are a couple of programs that have been so talented, they basically can play the same style every year, because they just have all these Division I players.

"We've had to adjust to the personnel that we've had, to maximize the things they do well and try to minimize the things they don't do so well. So each one has been very gratifying."

The 2010 and 2011 clubs featured 6-foot-9 center Jarrod Uthoff, who won the "Mr. Basketball" award in Iowa last season and is being red-shirted this year at the University of Wisconsin. This year's club features point guard Taylor Olson, who has started on all three state tournament teams along with Alec Saunders.

The J-Hawks were heavy underdogs against Cedar Falls in the substate finals, yet prevailed in overtime.

"This has been a very resilient group of young men," said Ordman. "I could count on them to really compete. It wasn't a surprise, although Cedar Falls is a formidable opponent, but it was quite rewarding to see this group pull it off.

"It was neat to see how the student-body and community have acknowledged that these guys are pretty darn competitive."

The J-Hawks practiced at Kirkwood Community College on Friday, getting accustomed to the 94-foot court they'll see at the state tournament. High school courts are only 84 feet long, so perhaps the "little mosquitoes" from Jefferson will be able to use the longer court to their advantage in Des Moines.

Ordman will be proud of his guys, win or lose.

"We have some tough, hard-working young men from the southwest side of Cedar Rapids who embrace our philosophy of hard work, service to others and being accountable," he said. "It's also a testament to their parents in how they've been raised."

Ordman and his assistant coaches are still working on the game plan for Ankeny.

"I'll figure out what's going to work," he said. "We'll just have to mix the tea leaves and see what comes up."

Taylor Olson named to MVC 1st team

Linn-Mar senior Marcus Paige has been chosen Mississippi Division Athlete of the Year by Mississippi Valley Conference boys basketball coaches.

Paige, who will play his college ball at North Carolina, leads the state in scoring with a 28.4 average.

Paige and Dubuque Wahlert's Jake May were unanimous picks on the Mississippi Division team. Cody Bell of Kennedy also was a first team pick.

Taylor Olson of Jefferson and Matt MacDougall of Prairie were unanimous first team selections on the Valley team. Iowa City West, which takes an undefeated record into next week's state tournament, had three first team choices: Dondre Alexander, Jeremy Morgan and Wyatt Lohaus.

Harrington, who has signed to run track at Alabama, was the Athlete of the Year in the Valley Division.

Linn-Mar's Chris Robertson was Coach of the Year in the Mississippi Division. Iowa City West's Steve Bergman was tabbed in the Valley Division.

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY CONFERENCE
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
(* -- Unanimous selections)

MISSISSIPPI DIVISION

FIRST TEAM: *Marcus Paige (LM), *Jake May (DW), Cody Bell (CRK), Josh Weeber (DS), Riley McCarron (DW), Jerel Moore (ICH), Dale Jones (WW)

SECOND TEAM: Trevor Heitland (CRK), Josiah Coleman (CRK), Connor Grant (DS), Kyle Haber (DS), Nate Burks (DW), Jimmy Roth (LM), Andy Henry (LM)

HONORABLE MENTION: Elliott Christians (CRK), Darius Fuller (CRK), Sean Bredl (CRW), David Tann (CRW), Domen Zevnik (DS), Seth Bonifas (DS), Brady Williams (DW), Ronald Thompson (ICH), Cortez Barfield (ICH), Derik Gogg (LM), Matt Meier (LM), DaQuan Moore (WW), DiMarco Mallett (WW)

ALL-ACADEMIC: Cody Bell (CRK), Josh Jahlas (CRK), Sean Bredl (CRW), Zach Williams (CRW), Connor Grant (DS), Jon Powers (DS), Sam Koenig (DW), Riley McCarron (DW), Mohamed Rouabhi (ICH), Andrew Hein (ICH), Marcus Paige (LM), Jacob Hutchins (LM), Tre Johnson (WW)

ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Marcus Paige (LM)

COACH OF THE YEAR: Chris Robertson (LM)

VALLEY DIVISION

FIRST TEAM: *Dondre Alexander (ICW), *James Harrington (CF), *Jeremy Morgan (ICW), *Matt MacDougall (CRP), *Taylor Olson (CRJ), Wyatt Lohaus (ICW), Caleb Konieczny (CF)

SECOND TEAM: Ky Kramer (CRJ), Isaac Boettger (CF), Tony Johnson (CF), Jace Hanna (CRP), Ben McDermott (CRX), Alex Smith (DH), Jacob Gylten (ICW)

HONORABLE MENTION: Kalund Brown (CF), Kalehl Brown (CF), Tyler Hemphill (CRJ), Alec Saunders (CRJ), Jacob Aune (CRP), Tom Eilers (CRP), Mack Mattke (CRX), Kevin Hosch (CRX), Jake Weber (DH), Ben Goerdt (DH), Myzeah Batie-Gaddy (ICW), Austin Swank (ICW), Corshaundus Love (WE), Daeton Hoskins (WE)

ALL-ACADEMIC: Jackson Nichols (CF), Grant Grainger (CF), Austin Goodell (CRJ), Taylor Mueller (CRJ), Matt MacDougall (CRP), Brooks Kehoe (CRP), Kevin Hosch (CRX), Mack Mattke (CRX), Alex Smith (DH), Shawn Breitbach (DH), Jacob Gylten (ICW), Jason Stewart (ICW)

ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: James Harrington (CF)

COACH OF THE YEAR: Steve Bergman (ICW)

J-Hawks shock No. 3 Cedar Falls in OT

CEDAR FALLS - The fact is, there were very few who figured the Cedar Rapids Jefferson boys stood a chance against Cedar Falls Tuesday night at the McLeod Center.

But the ones who knew they could pull off an upset were the ones playing the game. And they grew more confident as the battle wore on.

They weren't knocked out early, they stayed close throughout, they grabbed a lead late and, when it was all on the line, they hit clutch shots and stayed calm.

It's as if it was meant to be when their inspirational leader, senior Taylor Olson, tore down the court with four seconds left in overtime and cooly dropped in a layup at the buzzer for a 67-65 shocker.

With a heart-stopping victory over the Class 4A third-ranked team, the J-Hawks (15-8) will now face No. 1 Ankeny (23-0) in the first round of the state tournament next Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

"I knew all along we could do it, I really did," Olson said afterward. "We'd been in close games before, so we were used to that.

"And I have all the confidence in the world in these J-Hawks. We didn't panic."

Indeed not

Behind all the way, once by as many as 12 points in the second quarter, they refused to give up or give in. When the adrenaline-fueled Tyler Hemphill hit his second straight 3-pointer of the night with 2:55 to go in regulation to tie it at 59-59, destiny seemed to be suddenly on Jefferson's side.

Two Tiger turnovers later, Olson gave his team its first lead of the game at 61-59 when he drove past Cedar Falls speedster James Harrington for a lay-in. Hemphill then made one of two free throws to stretch the margin to three points, 62-59.

With 24 seconds left in regulation, Harrington hit two free throws to pull the Tigers within 62-61. Cedar Falls then got the ball on one of only Jefferson three turnovers for the night.

A questionable foul call on Hemphill put Harrington back on the line with 4.6 seconds on the clock in the fourth quarter. With the game in his hands, he made the first shot but missed the second, sending the game into overtime at 62-62.

Harrington missed another free throw with 1:56 left in overtime with his team ahead 65-62. As if on cruise control, Hemphill came right back with yet another trey to knot the score again at 65-65.

"I didn't think about it," he said. "But I wasn't nervous. It just felt good."

The gritty J-Hawks proved their mettle in the next minute and a half by absolutely denying Cedar Falls any attempt to shoot. And when Olson picked up a sloppy pass in the waning seconds (the last of the Tigers' seven turnovers for the game), he kept his eye on the goal for his end-of-game heroics.

"It seemed like forever," he said of his full-court sprint, "but I was watching the clock the whole way."

With the win, Jefferson goes to the state tournament for the third straight year and the fourth in Coach Stu Ordman's career at the school.

"I'm very proud of these guys," he said. "They never quit. I told them before the game that I believed in them.

"They're wonderful players, but they're also good guys. I feel very blessed."

Jefferson shot 55 percent on 22 of 40 field goals. The J-Hawks connected on 13 of 19 from behind the 3-point arc with excellent shooting.

Cedar Falls shot 47 percent and outrebounded Jefferson, 33-17. The J-Hawks did not have any offensive rebounds.

Alec Saunders, who scored 16 points for the winners with four 3-pointers, said it was the defense that won the game.

"We wanted to shut down Harrington, and Taylor and Ky (Kramer) did a great job on him. Then we just had to execute our game plan," he said. "And we did it. It was an amazing game."

Olson led the J-Hawks with 22 points. Hemphill added 12.

Harrington led all scorers with 26 points in his final game for the Tigers (20-3).

JEFFERSON (67): Alec Saunders 5-9 2-2 16, Creighton Robinson 2-4 0-0 6, Ky Kramer 3-8 1-2 9, Tyler Hemphill 4-6 1-3 12, Taylor Olson 7-12 6-8 22, Jacob Olson 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Goodell 0-0 0-0 0, Justin Underwood 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 22-40 10-15 67.

CEDAR FALLS (65): James Harrington 7-17 9-12 26, Caleb Konieczny 0-8 0-0 0, Kalund Brown 8-12 1-1 17, Isaac Boettger 3-5 0-0 6, Tony Johnson 4-5 1-1 11, Kalehl Brown 2-4 0-0 5, Nick Clark 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-51 11-14 65.

Halftime - Cedar Falls 37, Jefferson 31. End of regulation - Jefferson 62, Cedar Falls 62. 3-point goals - Jefferson 13-19 (Saunders 4-6, Hemphill 3-3, T.Olson 2-2, Robinson 2-4, Kramer 2-4), Cedar Falls 6-16 (Harrington 3-4, Johnson 2-3, Kalehl Brown 1-2, Kalund Brown 0-1, Konieczny 0-6). Rebounds - Jefferson 17 (T.Olson 8), Cedar Falls 33 (Boettger 12). Turnovers - Jefferson 3, Cedar Falls 7. Total fouls - Jefferson 14, Cedar Falls 13. Fouled out - None.

Olson touches lives beyond basketball

On the basketball court, Taylor Olson is like juggler.

Bouncing the ball with either hand, he uses the other to point his teammates to holes in the defense. He looks first for others cutting to the basket for a layup or a kick-out to the corner for an open three.

If his defender is screened, he'll drive down the lane himself. Or stop and pop. Always looking ahead, his eyes toward the goal, he rarely loses the ball or makes a wrong move.

"Playing point guard, I sort of set the tempo for our team," says Olson, 18, the versatile senior leader of the Jefferson boys who play for a state tournament berth Tuesday night against Cedar Falls. "And I try to hold the team together, to keep everybody calm. If someone gets down to pick them up. I've always been that way."

Off the court, too.

"Taylor is such a good kid," says his aunt Melissa Olson. "He thinks of others before he thinks of himself. I'm pretty prejudiced, I know, but he's one of those kids that makes everyone else around him a better person."

She was her nephew's first basketball coach. A player herself at Prairie High School, Melissa remembers being at Waterloo West when big sister Stephanie was in the hospital to have her first son.

"I rushed back to Cedar Rapids and took him a little basketball," she says, "so it would be the first thing he touched. It was my dream that he be a basketball player."

When his little brother Jacob was born two years later, the game became his destiny, too. He's now a sophomore on the J-Hawk varsity who sees considerable playing time, sometimes the first one off the bench and usually taking over as point guard.

Melissa took both of them to the Stoney Point YMCA when they were little boys and was their coach on the AAU youth league team. She still goes to the gym with them to work on rebounding.

"Without kids of my own, they're like my sons," she says.

Without a father in the house, Stephanie Olson says raising two boys while she's always worked full-time as a bank mortgage specialist has been a family affair. Besides her sister, her parents Larry and Jan Olson of Atkins have always been involved.

"We're all very close," says Taylor. "I couldn't have asked for any more support growing up."

But his mother says that from an early age, her older son has taken care of others, as well.

"When the boys were out playing around Harrison (Elementary), Taylor made sure all the little kids got to play. Really, he's always been wise beyond his years. Very level-headed. Very caring. I think that's kind of unusual for a teenager."

And he's a role model.

"I've always looked up to him," says Jacob, 16, his spitting image on and off the basketball court. "He's always been there to help me. He's never let me down.

"And he's very, very smart. He helps me with my school work."

With a 3.8 grade point average and a schedule that is packed with advanced placement classes, Taylor has his sights set on becoming an engineer. Calculus is his favorite subject.

He doesn't know where he's going to college yet, although he's almost certain to earn scholarships both for basketball and academics.

"I'm wide open right now," he says. "I'm just focusing on high school. I've had a great four years at Jefferson. It's a great school. I've had really good coaches and teachers.

"We moved when I was in eighth grade so Jacob and I could be in the Jeff district. It couldn't have been any better. I feel like I've been blessed."

It's a message he passes on to younger folks, beyond his own brother and teammates. Last year he was asked to spend some extra time once a week after school with a neighborhood fifth grader he's known from J-Hawk basketball camps. The boy is a whiz on the basketball floor, less dedicated as a student.

"We talked some hoops," Taylor says. "But mostly we talked about his school projects and making sure he got his work done."

And this year he's been going to Taylor Elementary on Monday mornings to read books to a class of third graders.

"I remember when adults did that when I was in grade school," he says. "I always thought it was neat that they'd do that. And I love being around the little kids. We have a lot of fun.

"I tell them basketball is very important to me and has been all my life. But it's not the only thing. School's more important. And getting grades is the most important thing."

While his mom and his aunt Melissa are pleased with his accomplishments on the basketball court, they're prouder still of the young man he's become.

"Taylor has worked so hard," says his aunt. "He's unselfish. And he's humble. He appreciates everything he has. And he deserves whatever he gets."