Olson the passer, not the scorer in Jefferson's win over Kennedy

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids Jefferson found out something important Friday night. It can win basketball games without its best player dominating the score book.

Make no mistake, Taylor Olson was still a big factor in the J-Hawks' 56-43 win over Cedar Rapids Kennedy at the Cougars gym. But this time it was more as a decoy than a scorer.

The star point guard posted up inside and threw the basketball out to his teammates for jumpers that were open, more often than not, and good, more often than not.

“Our plan going into this game was to have Taylor in the middle, really work the middle, and then have him kick it out,” said Jefferson's Alec Saunders. “Shoot from the perimeter, work it inside out. Taylor being as good a passer as he is, he was able to kick the ball, and everyone was able to score from the perimeter.”

Olson came in averaging 21.8 points, but was held to eight, taking only four shots from the field. He didn't care.

“Obviously, we knew they were going to collapse defensively,” Olson said. “So once I got the ball, we were able to kick it out. Guys have been working on their shots and stuff, and they did a good job tonight.”

Creighton Robinson, in particular, as he splashed a trio of treys en route to a game-high 19 points. Saunders added 14, as Jeff went 8 of 19 from distance.

Jefferson (9-2, 5-2 in the Valley Division of the MVC) trailed after a quarter, 17-9, but outscored Kennedy in the second, 19-4. That included a desperation, banked 3-pointer by Saunders at the halftime buzzer that gave the J-Hawks a 28-21 edge.

It was 36-31 at the end of three, but Jefferson extended its lead to as many as 14 in the fourth quarter, icing it at the free-throw line. That's where it went 16 of 21.

“We've talked about how we're going to need a more balanced attack to beat really good teams,” said Jefferson Coach Stu Ordman. “The thing was we executed our game plan after that first quarter. Guys were sick, but they really reached back.”

Kennedy Coach Bob Fontana was sickened by his club's failure to execute.

“I'm not going to pull any punches,” he said. “We had some guys off the bench, then one of our starters, make some really poor decisions offensively that went away from our game plan ... I told them I wasn't upset by Saunders banking in that 3. I was upset with guys going away from the game plan offensively. Then we didn't rebound on the backside. That led to our downfall.”

Kennedy (7-3, 5-3) was led by Cody Bell's 13 points. It will be a different team beginning Saturday against Des Moines North when starting guards Josiah Coleman and Darius Fuller return from school-imposed, 10-game suspensions.

“I'd like to think we're going to have a little more depth and little more athleticism on the court,” Fontana said.

Here is the game boxscore and a short video interview with Saunders:

AT C.R. KENNEDY

C.R. JEFFERSON (56): Alec Saunders 4-8 2-2 14, Ky Kramer 1-6 5-6 8, Tyler Hemphill 1-3 0-1 2, Creighton Robinson 6-12 4-6 19, Taylor Olson 2-4 4-4 8, Justin Underwood 2-4 1-2 5, Layne Sullivan 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Goodell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-37 16-21 56.

C.R. KENNEDY (43): Elliott Christians 0-7 3-5 3, Cody Bell 4-7 4-6 13, Josh Jahlas 1-2 0-1 2, Alex Hayden 4-12 1-2 12, Trevor Heitland 2-7 0-0 5, Patrick Martin 0-1 0-0 0, Benjamin Struss 2-3 0-0 4, A.J. Carter 2-2 0-1 4, Riley Fergus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-41 8-15 43.

Halftime - Jefferson 28, Kennedy 21. 3-point goals - Jefferson 8-19 (Saunders 4-6, Kramer 1-4, Hemphill 0-1, Robinson 3-8), Kennedy 5-16 (Christians 0-1, Bell 1-3, Hayden 3-9, Heitland 1-2, Martin 0-1). Rebounds - Jefferson 25 (Olson 8), Kennedy 26 (Christians 8). Total fouls - Jefferson 18, Kennedy 21.  Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Jefferson 10, Kennedy 11.

[gallery columns="2"]