In their season debut at home Tuesday night, the Jefferson boys missed enough bunnies under the basket to shame even Elmer Fudd.

But they made up for it by hawking enough balls out of the Clinton River Kings’ hands to coast to an easy 62-41 win.

“We have to get better at finishing on offense,” said J-Hawk Coach Stu Ordman.

On the other hand, he pointed out, “I think our pressure on defense really bothered them.”

In fact, Jefferson’s tough guarding and quick hands accounted for 18 clean steals.

Slick point guard Jacob Olson, taking over the playmaker reins from older brother Taylor, recorded six swipes. The talented junior also led his team in scoring with 20 points while still feeding his teammates for open looks down low.

The squad’s only two seniors, Ky Kramer and Creighton Robinson, also had productive outings. Kramer, a steady wing player, had five steals to go along with 13 points. Dynamo Robinson claimed four steals and 15 points.

Both of them canned three 3-pointers.

“I thought Ky played with a lot of poise,” said Ordman. “And he hit three out of three from three in the first half.

“Creighton and Jacob both handled the ball and did a good job distributing the ball.”

Two of Kramer’s long bombs came in the first four minutes and pushed his team to a 9-2 lead.

“We’re not the biggest team,” said Kramer, part of a starting front line that stands 6-foot-3 and under. “So, we’ve got to knock down our threes. It’s something we focus on in practice.”

The J-Hawks built their margin to 24-8 midway through the second period, at one stretch holding the River Kings scoreless for six minutes.

“We thought we could play the passing lanes hard,” Robinson explained. “We found out early on they couldn’t handle it, and we got a lot of steals.”

Never seriously challenged after jumping quickly out of the gate, Jefferson eventually led by as many as 23 points early in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we played with great energy in the first half,” Ordman said. “We got kind of tired and fat and lazy with the big lead. But this was a good game to build on.”

CLINTON (41): Tyler Thacker 1 0-0 3, Jalen Jones 4 2-2 10, Javonetz Washington 2 0-0 6, Brady Ernst 5 0-0 11, Jacob Judd 2 1-1 5, Rodney Witherspoon 1 0-0 2, Robbie Thacker 0 0-0 0, Ashley 0 0-2 0, Ben Rowan 0 0-0 0, Jon Cady 1 0-0 2, Thomas Smith 0 0-0 0, Justin Michel 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 3-5 41.

JEFFERSON (62): Jacob Olson 8 3-3 20, Creighton Robinson 6 0-0 15, Ky Kramer 4 2-2 13, Layne Sullivan 2 0-0 4, Terry Jenkins 1 2-3 4, Lucus Larson 2 0-0 4, Brandon Wiederin 1 0-0 2, Jacob Hansen 0 0-0 0, Mark Monnahan 0 0-0 0, Marcus Floyd 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 7-8 62.

Halftime – Jefferson 31, Clinton 16. 3-point goals – Clinton 4 (Washington 2, T. Thacker, Ernst), Jefferson 7 (Robinson 3, Kramer 3, Olson).