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Fairmont hoopsters stop St. James in 2AA playoffs

FAIRMONT — When the Fairmont Cardinals struggled shooting from outside, the solution was simple: go inside.

The No. 4-seeded Cardinals pounded the paint, allowing senior center Walker Tordsen a career-high 30 points in the team’s 62-51 win over the No. 5-seeded St. James Saints during Section 2AA, South Sub-Section quarterfinal basketball action on Monday night.

“When we went to Walker, really good things happened tonight,” Cardinals head coach Jared Thompson said. “We started getting the ball inside and things went better for us.”

St. James finished the season with a 15-11 record. Fairmont (17-9) moves on to play No. 1-seeded Waterville-Elysian-Morristown at 6 p.m. Thursday at Mankato East High School in the Sub-Section semifinals. WEM (24-3) defeated No. 8-seeded Medford, 72-36, to increase its win streak to 19 and advance to the semifinals.

“We’re just going to go up there and throw everything we have at them (WEM) and play our hearts out and see what we can do,” Thompson said. “We’ve enjoyed that underdog role here in the last month or two, and we’ve played well with it. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to get there and play a really, really good team in Waterville.”

Early on, the Cardinals found themselves down, 12-5, against the Saints when Tordsen used a putback and assists from junior forward Wyatt Quiring and senior guard Tyler Johnson to narrow the team’s deficit, 12-11.

Saints senior forward Brady Stevens also utilized the paint and went in for a layup to increase the lead by three. That’s when Cardinals junior guard Nate Kallenbach passed around the perimeter to Johnson, who knocked down the 3 to knot the game at 14.

With less than five minutes in the opening half, junior guard Sam Schwieger netted an open trey, with a feed from Allen, to garner the team’s first lead since Allen’s 3 in the opening minutes. Kallenbach swished another 3 before Allen completed a 3-point play to give the Cardinals a 25-21 lead going into halftime.

The Cardinals struggled shooting early, however, going 10-for-32 in the first half.

“I thought we had some nerves, especially our young guys, in the first half and we had to overcome that,” Thompson said.

Fairmont did, indeed, overcome it and shot better, but so did the Saints. Stevens and senior guard Sandin Skow combined for five of the Saints’ first seven points to tie the game at 28 all. Tordsen and Stevens then matched shots for another tie.

Cardinals junior forward Derek Missling’s free throw broke the tie and Tordsen used the one-point lead to build a 41-34 advantage. Skow and Stevens exchanged baskets again to pull the Saints back within one, but Allen notched his second 3 of the night to keep the Saints away.

With 2:58 left in the game, Stevens pulled the Saints within one again, but Allen made good on an and-1 scenario to keep the visitors away. The Cardinals continued to take time off the clock, forcing the Saints to foul.

Kallenbach, Johnson and Tordsen all went to the charity stripe for five points in the final minute of the game. Tordsen literally ended his last game in the Cardinals gym with a bang by taking to the air and slamming down a dunk in the final seconds to mark the 62-51 victory.

“I don’t know if there’s ever been a senior that went out in their last home game in the playoffs or whatever in that fashion,” Thompson said. “He played his heart out — best game of his career — and he needed to. We needed it against this very good St. James team.”

This is the third time this season the Cardinals defeated the Saints to record the sweep.

In addition to Tordsen’s 30 points on 13-for-17 shooting, he notched 10 rebounds for a double-double to complement three steals and a block. Allen added 14 points with five rebounds, while Schwieger notched eight boards.

Stevens went 8-for-13 to lead the Saints with 21 points before fouling out, and Skow marked a double-double performance of 14 points and 11 rebounds.

St. James 21-30–51

Fairmont 25-37–62

FAIRMONT (62)

Tordsen 13-17 4-7 30, Allen 5-13 2-2 14, Kallenbach 2-5 3-4 6, Schwieger 2-10 0-0 5, Johnson 1-2 1-3 4, Missling 1-4 1-2 3, Quiring 0-2 0-0 0, Denney 0-3 0-0, Schultz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-56 11-18 62.

ST. JAMES (51)

Stevens 8-13 5-8 21, Skow 6-16 2-2 14, Jones 2-6 2-2 8, Fredin 2-7 1-2 6, Malmgren-Diaz 1-2 0-0 2, Mohwinkel 0-4 0-0 0, Hillesheim 0-2 0-0 0, Witcraft 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-50 10-14 51.

3-pointers: Fairmont 5-14 (Johnson 1-1, Allen 2-4, Kallenbach 1-3, Schwieger 1-4, Quiring 0-1, Tordsen 0-1); St. James 3-14 (Jones 2-3, Fredin 1-3, Stevens 0-1, Mohwinkel 0-3, Skow 0-4). Fouled out: Stevens. Rebounds: St. James 34 (Skow 11); Fairmont 32 (Tordsen 10). Assists: Fairmont 11 (Johnson 3); St. James 5. Steals: Fairmont 10 (Tordsen 4); St. James 3.

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