It took the Xavier boys awhile to get into their game on their home floor Tuesday night.

But when they got away from playing Jefferson’s style of slow-ball and picked up speed, they ran right over the J-Hawks, 51-41.

On the heels of three straight long bombs by Creighton Robinson in a minute’s time, Stu Ordman’s Jefferson crew held a 21-7 lead with 5:20 to go in the second quarter.

Robinson scored just three free throws the rest of the game. And the J-Hawks managed only 20 more points.

“The key, I think, was when we went to the press in the second quarter,” said Saints Coach Ryan Luehrsmann, whose squad is now 9-9 (5-8 MVC).  “That sort of woke the kids up.

“When we focused on defense and started to put more pressure, it changed the complexion of the game.

“We got some turnovers and some easy baskets. And our intensity level really rose.”

In the last five minutes of the second quarter, the J-Hawks (9-9, 6-7) were held to a single basket. And they only scored five points in the third quarter as the Saints took the lead at 30-28.

In a foretaste of what was to come later, Xavier sophomore Adam McDermott knocked down a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in the period to tie the game at 28-all.

Jefferson then lost the ball and fouled Calvin Winker with 2.5 seconds on the clock. He swished both to put his team ahead for the first time in the game.

The J-Hawks proceeded to throw the ball out of bounds.

McDermott opened the fourth quarter with another trey, his third of the night.

Still, it looked like it might go down to the wire when Jacob Olson, Jefferson’s slick playmaker, started shooting again.

Held scoreless since his pretty 3-pointer gave the J-Hawks a 3-0 lead, he drove the lane hard for one basket and held  up for another on a short jumper.

Teammate Ky Kramer, who led Jefferson with 14 points, hit his second 3-pointer. And when Olson sank his only two free throw attempts of the evening, the score was knotted at 37 with 2:43 to go.

“Our kids are pretty tough-minded,” Luehrsmann said, “and not much seems to rattle them.

“All year, we’ve had trouble getting over the top in the fourth quarter. But tonight they were calm and crisp and poised down the stretch.”

At crunch time, it was the sophomore McDermott and steady senior Corbin Woods who provided the lethal blows. Both ended up with 15 points.

In short order, McDermott tossed in two sweet running floaters down the lane and Woods drove for another.

With time running out, Jefferson started fouling.

And between them, McDermott and Woods made six free throws in a row in the final minute to seal the victory.

“He’s got ice in his veins,” Woods said of his younger teammate’s clutch shooting when the game was on the line.

McDermott, who had just one bucket in the first half, credited his prime assist-maker Trey Samspon for not losing faith in him.

“I was told to keep shooting,” he said, “and he got me the ball.”

And like his coach, Woods said the up-tick in defensive intensity was the difference in the team’s turn-around.

“We started out kind of flat,” he said. “But we seemed to get a lot more energy on defense and on offense.

“And it the second half we really played with a sense of urgency.”

JEFFERSON (41): Jacob Olson 3 2-2 9, Creighton Robinson 3 3-4 12, Ky Kramer 6 0-0 14, Jacob Van Oort 0 0-0 0, Layne Sullivan 2 0-0 4, Lucas Larson 1 0-0 2, Terry Jenkins 0 0-0 0, Jacob Hansen 0 0-0 0, Brandon Wiederin 0 0-0 0, Marcus Colbert 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 5-6 41.

XAVIER (51): Calvin Winker 0 4-4 4, Trey Sampson 1 0-0 3, Adam McDermott 5 2-2 15, Matt Nelson 3 2-3 8, Corbin Woods 4 5-6 15, Andrew Bisenius 2 1-1 6, Reggie Schulte 0 0-0 0, Robbie Thinnes 0 0-0 0, Frank Hill 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 14-16 51.

Halftime – Jefferson 23, Xavier 15. 3-point goals – Jefferson 6 (Robinson 3, Kramer 2, Olson), Xavier 7 (McDermott 3, Woods 2, Sampson, Bisenius). Total fouls – Jefferson 16, Xavier 11. Fouled out – none.