A versatile Fairmont boys basketball team used its rugged inside game to set up a solid all-around effort Thursday night and claim a 77-52 win over St. Clair in a quarterfinal game of the Kwik Trip Holiday Tournament at the Sports and Fitness Center.
Oliver Tordsen, a 6-foot-8 senior center, and Logan Junkermeier, a 6-9 junior power forward, combined for 35 points and 14 rebounds as the Cardinals (4-3) connected on 31 of 55 from the field for 56.3%. Junior guard Nolan Schultze came off the bench to nail a trio of 3-pointers and score 14 points.
“We established our inside game early and kind of dominated the paint,” Fairmont coach Jared Thompson said. “We really made their defense collapse and then we started hitting some 3s. We were pretty efficient offensively. They had some good guard play, and when you have that you’re never out of the game. Every time they made a run we were able to answer and finally at the end they ran out of time.”
Trailing 15-5, the Cyclones (4-2) reeled off nine straight points to close within 15-14 on junior guard Austin Ward’s top-of-the-key 3-pointer eight minutes into the contest. After Avery Anderson’s 17-footer kept things close, Tordsen’s head-on 8-footer sparked a 20-0 surge which produced a 37-16 advantage on Schultze’s left-side triple with 3:36 left in the half.
Tordsen’s two close-range baskets capped his 15-point first half, giving the Cardinals a 46-27 cushion.
“We’re coming in here with a nice start to the season, but this was definitely a step up for us,” St. Clair coach Seth Altenhofen said. “It’s hare to simulate a couple of 6-8 kids down there and I’ll take the blame for starting out in a zone, which we don’t usually play. Our man defense gave them some fits in the second half, and we were able get the lead down to 12 a couple of times.
“We’ve got good guard play and we’ve got the kids who can shoot the ball around the perimeter. We weren’t able to get as many drives to the rim as we would have liked because of their size. We’re a young team that has plenty of talent. We need to build some depth.”
Ward and sophomore guard Sam Freitag hit three 3-pointers apiece as the Cyclones cut the deficit to 62-50 on Hunter Winkler’s steal and layup with 6:12 to go. However, 3-pointers from Joe Long and Schultze began a 13-0 run to seal things.
Ward led the Cyclones with 14 points while Freitag and senior forward Carter Bilitz added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
“I felt our effort was good, it was just that they were bigger than us and kind of pushed us out of the paint,” Ward said. “They kind of owned us inside and you’re going to have games like that against bigger teams. We’ve got some good shooters and were were able to get them the ball when we had good ball movement. We’ve been playing pretty good by running the court. … We need to use our speed to our advantage.”
Tordsen ended up with 21 points and six rebounds for the winners, who also received 14 points and eight boards from Junkermeier. Fairmont held a 31-27 rebounding edge and committed less turnovers 15-9. St. Clair made 20 of 47 field-goal attempts for 42.5%.
Fairmont will face Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial in the tournament semifinals on Friday.
Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 82, Minnesota Valley Lutheran 65: Daulton Bauer scored 34 points and had four assists as the Bulldogs won a first-round game at the Kwik Trip Holiday tournament.
Bauer was 5 of 5 on 3-pointers and 5 of 5 at the free-throw line, scoring 24 points in the second half. Gavin Bauer added 24 points, with 17 in the first half, for the Bulldogs, and Caleb Quast had seven points, seven assists and five steals.
Owen Birkholz led MVL with 13 points, and Blake Sexton added 11 points.
JWP (4-2) plays Maple River in the tournament semifinals Friday, while MVL plays New Ulm in a consolation game.
Maple River 70, New Ulm 50: Wyatt Birr had 23 points, including 19 in the first half, and eight rebounds as Maple River prevailed in the Kwik Trip holiday tournament quarterfinals.
Cole Davis made six 3-pointers and had 22 points and five rebounds, and Zach Trio had nine points and 12 rebounds.
Mitchell Hopp and Owen Castlemen each scored 17 points for New Ulm.
Maple River plays Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton in the semifinals Friday, while New Ulm faces Minnesota Valley Lutheran.
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 76, Mankato Loyola 48: Ben Brockman scored 14 points in the Knights’ quarterfinal victory at the Kwik Trip holiday tournament.
Brayden Matthews added 11 points, and Carter Lowis scored 10 points as LCWM led 45-17 at halftime.
Covin Winter and Christian Barker each scored nine points for Loyola, which plays St. Clair in a consolation game Friday.
LCWM faces Fairmont in the semifinals Friday night.