FAIRMONT — A tale of two distinct basketball halves.

The Fairmont Cardinals improved their field-goal accuracy by 24 percent during the final 18 minutes to secure a 63-50 non-league victory over the Tri-City United Titans on Monday night.

After forward Brady Allen reeled off the Cardinals’ first eight points to help build an 11-2 initial surge, forward Kyle Hintz drained three consecutive 3-pointers during the final five minutes to shoot the Titans within five points — 30-25 — by intermission in Fairmont.

“I thought our shot selection was much better during the second half,” said Fairmont head coach Jared Thompson, whose lineup made 15 of 24 field goals out of the halftime break for 63 percent. “We finally started getting the ball inside and capitalized on our length.”

Hintz connected on his fourth trey of the contest to knot the game at 33-all with 16 minutes remaining in regulation before 6-foot-7 center Walker Tordsen hit a putback basket to trigger the Cardinals’ pivotal 10-0 scoring surge in the second half.

Tordsen, who delivered 14 points to Fairmont’s balanced scoring attack, then doled out one of his three assists to Derek Missling for a low-post leaner for two of his 13 points on the game.

Allen, who produced a co-game-best 16 points, drove the lane for a runner before converting Sam Schwieger’s assist into a low-post lay-in. Nate Kallenbach then distributed one of his co-game-high four assists to Tordsen for a low-post basket to re-establish a 10-point lead at 43-33.

Jack Dooley sank a pair of free throws to end TCU’s offensive drought, but the Titans never whittled their deficit to less than eight during the final 11 minutes.

Schwieger delivered back-to-back baskets for four of his 13 points and Missling scooped home a baseline leaner to help Fairmont offset TCU center Devon Jacobson’s pair of 3-pointers down the stretch.

Tordsen added the exclamation point to the Cardinals’ victory by slamming home a dunk with less than a minute remaining.

Kallenbach pulled down eight boards, while Allen and Missling garnered seven apiece to pace Fairmont’s 36-24 rebounding edge.

Fairmont (16-8) travels to Jackson tonight for a Big South cross-over game. TCU (8-16) opens Section 2AA, North Sub-Section quarterfinal action against Sibley East at 7 p.m. next Monday night in Arlington.

TCU 25-25–50

FHS 30-33–63

FAIRMONT (63)

Missling 6-7 1-1 13, Allen 7-12 0-2 16, Tordsen 6-12 2-3 14, Schwieger 4-10 4-10 13, Kallenbach 0-1 0-0 0, Denney 2-5 0-0 4, Johnson 0-2 0-0 0, Quiring 0-1 0-0 0, Lloyd 1-1 0-1 3, Barrientos 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-52 7-19 63.

TCU (50)

Davis 2-4 0-0 4, Hintz 5-10 0-0 14, Jacobson 7-16 0-0 16, Readmond 0-5 0-0 0, Sexe 2-5 0-0 5, Skluzacek 0-3 2-2 2, Jackson 1-4 0-0 2, Witte 0-0 0-0 0, Dooley 2-5 3-3 7, Traxler 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-53 5-5 50.

3-pointers: TCU 7-21 (Hintz 4-7, Jacobson 2-3, Sexe 1-3, Readmond 0-3, Davis 0-2, Jackson 0-2, Traxler 0-1); Fairmont 4-15 (Allen 2-4, Lloyd 1-1, Schwieger 1-5, Tordsen 0-2, Johnson 0-2, Denney 0-1). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: FHS 36 (Kallenbach 8); TCU 24 (Jacobson 6). Assists: FHS 15 (Kallenbach 4); TCU 11 (Jackson 4). Steals: TCU 8 (Sexe 3); FHS 5.

Dustin Schultz scored 15 points and Hayden Berhow tallied 14 to lift Fairmont to a 50-46 overtime win over TCU during B-squad action Monday in Fairmont.

Lucas Denney added 11 points for the Cardinals.

Joey Flohrs netted 13 points to top Fairmont’s 49-37 victory over TCU during C-squad play Monday.

Daniel Brummond and Jacob Roberts contributed 10 points each for the Cardinals.

Worthington 54, Martin County West 48 — Zach Boever produced a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Trojans rallied from a six-point halftime deficit to post a 54-48 non-league win over the Mavericks on Monday night in Sherburn.

Tyler Linder supplied 12 points for the Trojans, who made 16 of 21 free throws.

Logan Ebeling and Wyatt Geistfeld each generated double-doubles to top MCW’s performance. Ebeling scored 18 points and grabbed a game-best 14 rebounds, while Geistfeld collected 10 points and 10 boards.

Josh Bjerken scored 13 points for the Mavericks, who made 17 of 46 from 2-point range, 3 of 10 behind the arc and 8 of 16 at the line.

Martin County West (7-18) tips off Section 3AA, South Sub-Section quarterfinal action at 7 p.m. Saturday night against Jackson County Central in Jackson.