Cedar Rapids Jefferson survived a fourth-quarter comeback by the Marion Indians and snagged a 57-53 win over a determined Marion squad at Jefferson Saturday night.

The J-Hawks were led by Jacob Olson with 25 points. His two free throws with 3.7 seconds left iced the victory.

Brandon Horman, co-coach of Jefferson, joined ESPN radio and Scott Unash after the game and emphasized that nothing comes easy, but the J-Hawks made some big plays down the stretch and “When better decisions are made, we came out OK.”

Horman commented that perhaps some ill-advised deep 3-balls were shot with a comfortable lead, adding the J-Hawks are a young team. “But we knew Marion was tough, well-coached, and we scouted them last night at Clear Creek Amana and were impressed with how they play hard, never give up and are never out of it,” he said.

This was certainly true Saturday. Quinn Cannoy, a standout on defense, was credited with 19 points and six rebounds and kept the Indians pecking away all night at the J-Hawk lead. Daly Quinn accounted for 11 points for Marion and scored nine of those in the second half.

Jefferson sophomore coach Chad Tompkins cited a charge that Bryce Cardis took down the stretch in the final minute that aided the J-Hawk victory as a key factor. Tompkins also thought having three players learn how to play with four fouls late in the game was valuable to the J-Hawk cause.

Marion kept itself in the game by outscoring Jefferson, 12-6, from the free throw line and cashing in with five 3-point goals, three coming from sharpshooter Daly Quinn.

Handling the basketball was pretty sharp by both teams. Jefferson had nine turnovers, seven coming in the opening quarter. The Indians coughed up the ball on turnovers 10 times on the night.

Lucas Larson scored 12 points for Jefferson.

MARION (53): Jeremy Schnieders 1 1-4 3, Quinn Cannoy 8 2-3 19, Daly Quinn 4 0-0 11, Craig Engle 2 2-3 6, Jacob Manderscheid 0 3-4 3, Cody Alberts 0 0-0 0, Trevor Hardman 2 1-2 5, Derek Smith 1 1-2 3, DeShaun Quinn 0 2-2 2. Totals 18 12-20 53.

JEFFERSON (57): Jacob Olson 11 3-3 25, Jacob Hansen 0 0-0 0, Bryce Cardis 1 1-2 3, Jake Van Oort 2 0-0  4, Brandon Wiederin 2 0-1 5, Lucas Larson 5 1-3 12, Adam Van Oort 1 0-0 2, Tyler Konigsmark 2 1-2 6. Totals 24 6-11 57.

Halftime - Jefferson 31, Marion 21. 3-point goals - Marion 5 (Quinn 3, Cannoy 1, Engle 1), Jefferson 3 (Wiederin 1, Larson 1, Konigsmark 1).