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Tordsen clears 1,000-point barrier

FAIRMONT — The Fairmont basketball team was in New Ulm on Jan. 9, 2014, with a comfortable lead. Since a few players were out, Cardinals head coach Jared Thompson decided to put in a freshman that the upperclassmen referred to fondly as “the young calf.”

The young calf had no problems standing on his own and made his first shot in the game, officially starting his varsity career scoring.

“We didn’t have any real centers back then. He gave us a nice offensive look in practice, so we’d dress him,” Thompson said. “He played B-squad his whole freshman year and we’d dress him and slide him in (varsity) games there.”

Approximately 1,128 days later, the young calf no more, Walker Tordsen became the fifth Fairmont boys basketball player to reach 1,000 career points. Going into the game at Windom on Feb. 10, the senior center needed only 14 points to reach the feat and got point No. 1,001 on a putback basket. Tordsen finished with 20 points and six rebounds in the Cardinals’ 59-49 win.

“It felt really good. I’ve been waiting for it for a while,” he said. “I’m just happy that I had the opportunity to do it.”

Tordsen joins the ranks of grand scorers that include Mitch Pfingsten, who holds the all-time career scoring record with 2,113 points, Eric Hugoson (1,481), Jeff Janssen (1,427) and Bob Winzenburg (1,271).

“I was in the gym for four of them. … He’s the second post to go in with 1,000 points,” Thompson said, with Winzenburg being the other post player. “When you’re a post, it’s hard to get 1,000 points in a lot of ways because you’re relying on other people to get you the ball a lot. It says a lot for the teammates he’s had.”

Just as the grand moment resonated with Thompson, Tordsen said it’s one of the top two moments in his basketball career. Its only rival is the state-qualifying Cardinals team when he was a freshman in 2014.

“As a freshman, it’s really just working on the fundamentals,” Tordsen said. “Then as you grow, you just get more physical.”

The three-year team most valuable player has been a starter for the Cardinals since his sophomore year and used a solid junior season to become eighth for all-time single-season field-goal percentage (59.7) and 22nd on the all-time single-season scoring list with 374 points.

More than anything, Tordsen has been able to be a successful scorer by being a consistent, reliable player for the Cardinals. This season, he’s averaging 13.3 points per game.

“Knock on wood, the biggest thing about Walker is that he’s been so durable, and availability and durability are as important abilities … as any skill. He’s always there for us,” Thompson said. “He’s consistent, he’s just that reliable kid you hope to have.”

Being a ‘go-to’ scorer isn’t Tordsen’s only job on the team, though it may be the most comfortable for him. As one of the Cardinals’ only four seniors, he’s had to take a more vocal approach in leading the team.

“He’s a soft-spoken kid who’s more of a lead by example guy, so this year, we challenged him to be more vocal with his teammates,” Thompson said. “He understands what we do defensively and offensively so well that he’s now able to teach a lot of our younger guys what we, as coaches, want. That’s a big help when you have that as a player.”

“(Leadership is) a skill you need to have. Basketball has definitely helped me to get that skill,” Tordsen added.

Now, with one final regular season game left on Monday before the postseason begins, Torden has secured his spot in Fairmont boys basketball history.

“He’s put himself in a pretty elite category there,” Thompson said. “He’s going to be way up there in a lot of statistics by the time it’s all said and done — games played, rebounds and blocked shots, and obviously points and field goal percentage. … He’s just a very skilled basketball player.”

Though the Cardinals’ first-round opponent is yet to be determined, Tordsen has only one goal for himself and his teammates in the playoffs.

“Get as far as we can and know that we played our hardest and gave it all we had,” he said.

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