The Jefferson J-Hawks faced No.3 Dubuque Senior at home Tuesday night in boys basketball and dropped the Mississippi Valley Conference matchup, 54-38.

Size mattered.

Dubuque Senior (12-1, 8-1) used eight players and six of them were 6-foot-4 or taller. Faced with the size disadvantage, the J-Hawks used an aggressive zone defense in an attempt to keep the Rams out of the lane.

It proved to be a fairly successful strategy, but Jefferson put the Rams on the foul line too often and the visitors cashed 20 of 27 free throws.

“There is not much margin for error against a team like Dubuque,” said Jefferson Coach Stu Ordman. "We have to play an almost flawless game against a team like this. They take out a 6-5 starter and bring in a guy 6-8.”

Jefferson (7-7, 4-5) was led in scoring by Jacob Olson with 13 points. Olson’s quickness provided some problems for the Dubuque defense.

“Olson is athletic and quick,” said Ordman. “He can create on offense, but I was very proud of his defense, especially in the first half.”

Dubuque Senior had two players in double figures. Kyle Haber had a game-high 23 points and Josh Weeber added 13.

“I think we can improve our defense,” said Ordman. “We need to get better faster. The key for us is that the guys need to embrace what we need to do with the people we have to do it with.

"When we do that we can create problems for other teams. We need consistency.”

Jefferson travels to Iowa City to take on the City High Little Hawks on Friday.

DUBUQUE SENIOR (54): Holdridge 2 1-2 7, Haber 5 10-12 23, Weeber 4 5-7 13, Bonifas 1 0-0 2, LeGrand 1 4-6 7, McDonnell 1 0-0 2, Hammel 0 0-0 0, Bozek 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 20-27 54.

JEFFERSON (38): Olson 6 1-2 13, Kramer 1 1-2 4, Van Oort 1 0-0 3, Wiederin 1 2-2 5, Sullivan 2 3-3 7, Robinson 2 0-0 6, Larson 0 0-0 0, Floyd 0 0-0 0, Hansen 0 0-0 0, Colbert 0 0-0 0, Monnahan 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 7-10 38.

Halftime – Dubuque Senior 30, Jefferson 24. 3-point goals – Dubuque Senior 6 (Haber 3, Holdridge 2, LeGrand 1), Jefferson 5 (Robinson 2, Kramer 1, Van Oort 1, Wiederin 1).