DES MOINES - Taylor Olson left the court at Wells Fargo Arena Wednesday with a blue towel on his head, partially masking the look of disappointment on his face.

His buddy, Alec Saunders, limped to the locker room with an ice bag attached to his bare right ankle, a painful reminder of an untimely injury.

The Jefferson J-Hawks suffered insult and injury in a 58-26 loss to top-ranked Ankeny in the opening round of the Class 4A state tournament in Des Moines.

Saunders twisted his ankle with 5:10 left in the first quarter and the J-Hawks clinging to a 5-3 lead. By the time he gamely returned in the third quarter, his club trailed by 16 points.

"He has a lot of heart, coming back like that," said Olson.

Heart was not merely enough as Jefferson (15-9) lost in the Class 4A quarterfinals for the third straight year.

Saunders made Jefferson's first bucket of the game with a 3-pointer with 6:25 left in the first quarter. Incredibly, it turned out to be Jefferson's only field goal in the first half.

The J-Hawks missed 11 straight shots after Saunders connected from the corner to finish 1 for 12 in the first half, a drought compounded by nine turnovers. Ankeny led at intermission, 27-13, as Jefferson scored 10 of its 13 points on free throws.

"Alec is a key part of our team," said Olson. "Anytime a key player like that goes down it's going to affect us.

"It got our spirits down. After that it kind of went downhill a little bit."

Saunders missed the last three games of the regular season with a sprained ankle. He played well in the substate tournament and helped the J-Hawks upset No. 3 Cedar Falls to get to Des Moines, only to reinjure his ankle less than three minutes into the state tournament.

The injury happened when the J-Hawks were chasing a rebound.

"I think me feet got caught on someone else's and I twisted it like I did the last time," he said. "It's a little bit aggravating. I hit the first shot of the game and felt pretty good, and then I get another injury."

Saunders was helped to the bench and spent the rest of the first half with his right foot propped on an equipment bag, a big bag of ice covering the injury. He played nine minutes in the second half, but couldn't cut or move very well.

"Painful," he said.

Saunders was a three-year starter for the J-Hawks and a key player on all three clubs that made the state tournament. His absence in the first half crippled the J-Hawks.

"It had more of an impact than I wanted," said Jefferson Coach Stu Ordman. "He's key. We didn't adjust to that very well."

Jefferson did not make its second field goal of the game until Justin Underwood hit a 10-footer with 6:13 left in the third quarter. Added together, the J-Hawks went 16 1/2 minutes between field goals.

That's a sure recipe for disaster in most games, let alone a state tournament game against the No. 1 team in Iowa.

Ankeny (24-0) grabbed a 23-point lead at 40-17 late in the third quarter, prompting Ankeny students to begin a derogatory chant that was aimed straight at the J-Hawks.

"How'd you get here? How'd you get here?" they sang in unison.

The deficit ballooned to 33 points at 56-23 midway through the fourth quarter and deep subs finished the game for both clubs.

Jefferson shot a miserable 7 for 37 for the game for 18.9 percent. That included a 1 for 15 showing on 3-pointers for 6.7 percent.

Ankeny entered the tournament with an average margin of victory of 22 points per game. Incredibly, that went up Wednesday. The Hawks won games this season by 40 (twice), 39, 38, 35, 30 (twice) and 29 before spanking the J-Hawks by 32.

"Pretty tough," said Ordman. "They're impressive."

Ted Friedman, a 6-foot-9 center who towered over the tallest J-Hawk, collected a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Ankeny pounded Jefferson on the backboards, 39-20, and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds.

Ankeny smothered Olson all day and held Jefferson's top player to 10 points on 3 for 13 shooting.

"We pride ourselves on defense," said Friedman. "You never know if the ball is going to go in the basket or not, but you always know how hard you can play on defense."

Bryan Sumner scored 13 points for Ankeny and Cory Myers collected 11 points.

Creighton Robinson, Ky Kramer and Underwood were Jefferson's second-leading scorers with four points apiece.

Ankeny will face Sioux City East (20-3) and 7-foot-1 center Adam Woodbury in the semifinals on Friday at 1:45 p.m.

JEFFERSON (26): Saunders 1 0-0 3, Robinson 2 0-0 4, Kramer 0 4-4 4, Hemphill 0 0-0 0, T. Olson 3 4-6 10, J. Olson 0 1-3 1, Mueller 0 0-0 0, Van Oort 0 0-0 0, Sullivan 0 0-0 0, Goodell 0 0-0 0, Weiderin 0 0-0 0, Knox 0 0-0 0, Underwood 1 2-2 4, Taylor 0 0-0 0, Lafler 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 11-15 26.

ANKENY (58): Cory Myers 5 0-0 11, Cole Myers 1 1-2 4, Egli 1 0-0 2, Friedman 5 3-5 13, Schabel 2 3-4 8, Jones 1 0-0 2, Sumner 5 0-0 12, Figley 0 0-0 0, Howard 0 0-0 0, Matter 0 0-0 0, Peck 0 0-0 0, Lindaman 2 2-2 6, Kuehl 0 0-0 0, Rinker 0 0-2 0, Deiter 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 9-15 58.

Halftime - Ankeny 27, Jefferson 13. 3-point goals - Jefferson 1 (Saunders 1), Ankeny 5 (Sumner 2, Cory Myers 1, Cole Myers 1, Schabel 1).

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