In the last game before the holiday break, Marshalltown’s leading scorer stepped aside as his supporting cast stepped forward.

On Friday afternoon back inside the Roundhouse, Kyle Smith stood on business.

Smith made five of the Bobcat boys’ basketball team’s season-best 10 3-pointers and finished with 19 points in Marshalltown’s 68-44 victory over Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson in a new year’s ice-breaker between non-conference foes.

In their sixth home game in eight outings, the Bobcats (6-2) broke free from the visiting Yellow Jackets behind a season-high scoring output and the team’s most 3-pointers in a game in more than two years.

“The shots came to me and my teammates did a great job of getting me the ball,” said Smith. “Give credit to my teammates, they did a great job of just playing hard out there and getting me the ball.”

Senior forward Jacob Hayes was 3-for-4 from deep and matched Smith with 19 points, achieving a new career-high for the second game in a row. Hayes scored 17 in the win over Fort Dodge back on Dec. 19, 2025, and upped his career-best by one more bucket on Friday.

“It was great to get Kyle going again, get him some confidence and see some shots go in,” said MHS head coach Michael Appel. “I think he hit five threes tonight and they were all good shots.

“That’s something to build on and it was great to see some balanced scoring from the other guys, too. A lot of positives in that area. This is obviously the highest we’ve scored this season.”

MHS shot 10-for-18 from behind the arc and put Council Bluffs Jefferson’s Class 4A-worst defense to the test. The Yellow Jackets (1-7), allowing 79.7 points per game, surrendered Marshalltown’s top point total in nearly two years (69 on Feb. 2, 2024 at Fort Dodge) after not bringing their own top two scorers.

Neither Junior Gatkuoth (20 ppg) nor Ramon Ware (15.4) made the three-hour bus ride from Council Bluffs, making the first game back from break a little less of a test for the hometown Bobcats.

“That obviously changes things,” said Appel. “Hopefully it doesn’t change how hard you play and how you prepare for the game. You just make adjustments and go from there.

“You control what you can control with your guys and ultimately whoever shows up, we have to be prepared to play and play hard.”

Jefferson senior guard Demari Robinson scored a career-high 25 points to lead his team, but was the only double-digit scorer. Robinson scored the Yellow Jackets’ first five points before going to the bench with his third foul near the end of the first quarter, but he put up 20 points in the second half to help his team inch closer before the final horn.

The Bobcats led 16-7 after the opening period, pulled ahead to a 35-16 halftime lead and then outscored the Jackets 24-11 in the third quarter.

A 15-0 run over the final 4:28 of the second quarter started with a Jamison Niehouse layup and an administrative technical foul on Council Bluffs Jefferson for a player’s number being listed incorrectly in the official scorebook. Hayes hit both free throws — he was 6-for-6 at the line in the game — and Gavin Misek got a layup to complete a six-point possession for Marshalltown.

Three-pointers by Smith, Hayes and Drake Gersema closed out the quarter for a 19-point Bobcat lead at the break, and an 11-2 start to the second half capitalized on the continual hustle of their role players.

Freshman forward Larrs Schoenfelder, who didn’t attempt a shot in the game, tracked down offensive rebounds that set up second-chance 3-pointers for Smith during both of those back-breaking Bobcat scoring surges.

Schoenfelder has just 10 points on the season but is the team’s third-leading rebounder with 36 — two-thirds of which are on the offensive glass.

“That’s what he brings,” said Appel. “Those points add up. He’s one of our highest plus/minus and there’s a reason for that, and he’s not even scoring a lot of points. That speaks volumes of what he does for our team and those little things, you’ve got to be able to do that.”

Smith concurred.

“It’s amazing, we need to have players like Larrs who are going to be able to just step in and have that role,” Smith said. “Larrs does a great job with that. Every single day he’s in the gym trying to get better, working at it, and we need players like that to go out there and get these wins. He’s a huge, crucial part of why we’re winning.”

Misek finished with 15 points in the team’s first game since he poured in a career-high 21 in the win over Fort Dodge. Niehouse, a junior forward playing his first game of the season due to injury, finished with four points on 2-for-2 shooting, two rebounds, two assists and one blocked shot.

“Jamison is athletic, he’s physical, and he’s a guy that can defend a lot of different positions,” Appel said. “He brings the ability to score the ball in a lot of different ways and he can rebound it. He’s probably our strongest, most athletic kid, so having a guy like that come off the bench right now, and then what Gavin’s been able to do off the bench is huge for us to have some spark and get some points when we’re struggling sometimes to score.”

Smith added team-highs of four rebounds and four assists, while Gersema had nine points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Freshman guard Damian Segovia got two points and a pair of assists.

“I thought we moved the ball well,” Appel said. “I thought on offense, in transition, that’s probably the best we’ve been as far as not having to actually run a set or anything of structure, just them making good plays and good decisions and taking open shots and moving the ball.”

The Bobcats are back at home again on Tuesday night, hosting Waterloo East before going on the road to face Ames on Thursday.

Marshalltown 68, Council Bluffs Jefferson 44

CB JEFFERSON (1-7) — Braxton Parks 2 0-2 4, Garrett Null 1 0-0 3, Dominique Grant 1 1-1 3, Jayden Fujii 0 0-0 0, Demari Robinson 6 10-10 25, Leyton McNabb 2 0-0 6, Caleb Tripp 1 0-0 3, Deon Hill 0 0-0 0, Vincent Starks 0 0-0 0, Mulugeta Ruel 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 13 11-13 44.

MARSHALLTOWN (6-2) — Drake Gersema 4 0-0 9, Kyle Smith 7 0-0 19, Damian Segovia 1 0-0 2, Jacob Hayes 5 6-6 19, Larrs Schoenfelder 0 0-0 0, Jamison Niehouse 2 0-1 4, Gavin Misek 6 2-2 15, Aiden Holmgren 0 0-0 0, Hunter Fors 0 0-0 0, Talon Halsted 0 0-0 0, Tyler Dorothy 0 0-0 0, Oliver Young 0 0-0 0, Garrett Thede 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 25 8-9 68.

CB JEFFERSON 7 9 11 17 — 44

MHS 16 19 24 9 — 68

3-Point Goals–CB Jefferson 7 (Robinson 3, McNabb 2, Null, Tripp), MHS 10 (Smith 5, Hayes 3, Gersema, Misek). Team Fouls–CB Jefferson 9, MHS 11. Fouled Out–none. Technical Foul–CB Jefferson bench.