It was one of those nights for Kyle Smith.

The Marshalltown senior guard sank eight 3-pointers on his way to a career-high 32 points and the Bobcat boys’ basketball team blasted Cedar Rapids Jefferson 58-31 in Monday’s non-conference contest inside the Roundhouse.

Smith scored 18 of Marshalltown’s 30 first-half points, making five 3-pointers as the Bobcats (8-3) got out to a 30-8 halftime lead. The J-Hawks (0-8) went scoreless in the second quarter, while Smith and his teammates seemingly couldn’t miss.

He added 10 rebounds as well as three steals to make it a double-double and kick off a three-game week in a big way.

“Obviously Kyle getting it going early helps us a lot,” said MHS head coach Michael Appel. “He was able to get free tonight and that hasn’t been the case the past few games. Teams have done a nice job of denying him and face-guarding him and making sure he’s not going to get anything easy. Tonight he was able to free up a little bit, which was huge for us.”

Smith sank three-straight 3-pointers to account for Marshalltown’s last nine points of a back-and-forth first quarter that saw the Bobcats end in front 15-8.

The defense that has driven the Marshalltown boys’ squad this season saddled up and stifled the J-Hawks in the second quarter, outscoring them 15-0 to take a 30-8 halftime advantage.

“When you can count maybe a handful of how many breakdowns we had, that’s pretty solid,” Appel said of his team’s defense. “So proud of that. We’re staying consistent. Guys are continuing to play hard out there and understanding what we’re trying to do and just the consistency we need to have on how hard we play and our communication and being in the right spots.”

Cedar Rapids Jefferson, which suffered its 15th straight loss as a program, finally found some wiggle room in the third quarter after the Bobcats got out to a 35-8 lead — completing a 24-0 run that spanned from the end of the first to the start of the third period.

The J-Hawks got some shots to drop, battled for a few offensive rebounds and kept Marshalltown from opening up an even bigger lead.

Jefferson’s half-court zone defense had the Bobcats handcuffed over the last three minutes of the third quarter and to start the fourth, but the J-Hawks switched back to man-to-man after a timeout and back-to-back buckets for Marshalltown ended Jefferson’s 10-0 run.

Jacob Hayes hit a back-door layup and Smith swished his eighth and final 3-pointer of the night to give the Bobcats a 25-point lead again.

Smith finished 11-of-13 from the field and 8-of-10 from 3-point range, adding a pair of free throws for his career-high scoring night.

Damian Segovia made the team’s other three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points, while Jacob Hayes got five points, and both Drake Gersema and Larrs Schoenfelder got four points. Jamison Niehouse added a layup to the cause.

Gersema finished with five assists and some praise from his head coach.

“I thought Drake was terrific tonight, driving it to the rim and jump-stopping in the lane and finding guys,” Appel said. “Finding Kyle, finding cutters — that was great. Damian did the same a few times too. That’s stuff you’re really happy to see, especially in transition.

“Tonight we were moving it well and finding open guys, and when Kyle’s shooting it that well, we did a nice job of finding him.”

Jayden Faulkner scored eight points to lead Cedar Rapids Jefferson, which had won two in a row in the series with Marshalltown.

The Bobcats are back on the court tonight with a road game at Des Moines East, and MHS entertains Des Moines Roosevelt on Friday.

Marshalltown 58, Cedar Rapids Jefferson 31

CR JEFFERSON (0-8) — Jayden Faulkner 3 0-0 8, Zach Thielman 1 0-0 3, Ian Eirp 1 0-0 3, Ryen Feickert 2 0-0 4, Christian Rivera 0 0-0 0, Saidi Juma 1 0-0 2, Stephon Clay-Garcia 0 0-0 0, Layne Willman 1 0-02, Albert Meiborg 0 0-0 0, Ty Kuennen 0 0-0 0, Cayden Wilson 1 0-0 2, Jordan Wilcox 1 0-0 2, DaeNovious Johnson 2 0-0 5. TOTALS 13 0-0 31.

MARSHALLTOWN (8-3) — Drake Gersema 2 0-0 4, Kyle Smith 11 2-2 32, Damian Segovia 4 0-0 11, Jacob Hayes 1 3-4 5, Larrs Schoenfelder 2 0-0 4, Jamison Niehouse 1 0-1 2, Gavin Misek 0 0-0 0, 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 21 5-7 58.

CR JEFF 8 0 15 8 — 31

MHS 15 15 16 12 — 58

3-Point Goals–CR Jefferson 5 (Faulkner 2, Thielman, Eirp, Johnson), MHS 11 (Smith 8, Segovia 3). Team Fouls–CR Jefferson 6, MHS 6. Fouled Out–none.