GETTING VERTICAL — Fairmont’s Tanner Rosch (15) gets vertical in outleaping Cardinal teammate Levi Pooley (22) to garner a rebound during Big South Conference basketball action against St. Peter on Friday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. The Cardinals’ Jacob Crissinger (far left) and Gavin Junkermeier (far right) look on. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — The Saints’ late pressure wasn’t quite enough to overcome the Cardinals.

Fairmont held on for a 68-62 Big South Conference boys basketball win over St. Peter on Friday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont.

The Cardinals continued their hot offensive stretch from the second half of their game Tuesday, scoring 46 points during Friday’s opening half, but St. Peter’s defense got aggressive after the halftime break.

St. Peter’s strong defensive effort led to 26 Fairmont turnovers, including nine steals, helping lead the Saints back from their 13-point deficit at the half, closing that gap to only three points late.

Fairmont held a 54-38 advantage with 15:18 left in the matchup, then the Saints started their run.

Vinny Guappone, Marwan Abdi, Zach Taylor and Bennett Olson combined to score the game’s next 10 points, before Tanner Rosch stopped the run with a free throw.

David Maakestad put the Cardinals up 58-48 with a left-wing 3 off a Zach Jorgensen assist, but St. Peter scored eight of the next 10 points, to bring the game to 60-56.

Jorgensen assisted Maakestad for another 3, this one from the right corner, to give Fairmont a seven-point advantage, then Jorgensen, Jacob Crissinger and Gavin Junkermeier combined to hit five out of six free throws to maintain the Cardinal lead in the final three minutes.

“It was a great effort against a really good team that had been playing better,” Cardinal head coach Jared Thompson said. “Offensively, that’s about as well as we have played. … Defensively, we didn’t play great, but we competed. … In the second half, their (Saints) intensity level really picked up and took us out of any rhythm we had. … We were disciplined offensively and didn’t play out of control. Defensively we did just enough to hold on.”

Free throws and 3s were the major difference for the Cardinals. Fairmont made 7 of 15 3s and 15 out of 23 free throw attempts, while the Saints hit only 3 of 19 3s and 5 of 12 attempts from the charity stripe.

Jorgensen led the Cardinal offense with 21 points, while nearing a double-double with eight boards to complement dishing out four assists. Crissinger joined Jorgensen in double-digit scoring with 11 points, with six coming on eight free throw attempts, and Levi Pooley added 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting, including 2 of 4 from behind the arc.

Junkermeier led the Cardinals on the boards with 11 rebounds.

“Everything was clicking for us,” Thompson said of his team’s first half performance. “They (St. Peter) changed defenses three times in the first half and we were able to stay in rhythm and shoot the ball well.”

The game started more like a track meet than a basketball game, with both teams going up and down the court at a rapid speed.

Jorgensen hit a mid-range jumper, then two free throws before Crissinger and Rosch hit consecutive 3s to give Fairmont an early 10-7 lead. Jorgensen then worked his way to a traditional three-point play with a drive through traffic and a free throw, before Crissinger hit two of three attempts from the line.

Fairmont scored the next nine points when Sawyer Tordson hit a put-back 2, Crissinger assisted Junkermeier with a post-feeding bounce pass, Pooley grabbed a defensive rebound and took it coast-to-coast for a layup and Maakestad assisted Rosch for a right-wing 3.

The Cardinal offense stayed ahead through the first half, building to its 46-33 halftime advantage.

“Sometimes it just comes down to hitting shots,” Thompson said of the 46-point half. “But we were getting to our spots and doing a good job offensively.

“We need to fix some things on the fly here because we need to play better defensively on Monday.”

The teams will match up again Monday in what Thompson said will be an even tougher matchup. He said not only will a road game be more intense, but team’s that lose close games usually bring even more energy and strategy in the following game.

Fairmont (4-2) will travel to St. Peter (3-3) for a 7:15 p.m. matchup.

St. Peter 33-29–62

Fairmont 46-22–68

Fairmont (68)

Jorgensen 7-11 0-1 21, Crissinger 2-5 1-4 11, Pooley 4-7 2-4 10, Junkermeier 4-6 0-0 9, Rosch 3-9 2-3 9, Maakestad 2-4 2-3 6, Tordsen 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 23-43 7-15 68.

St. Peter (62)

Guappone 8-16 0-1 19, Olson 7-14 2-5 16, Robb 3-8 0-3 6, Grant 2-14 0-5 6, Wendroth 2-3 1-1 5, Taylor 2-2 0-0 4, Hildebrandt 1-2 0-1 2, Lund 1-4 0-3 2, Abdi 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 27-67 3-19 62.

3-pointers: Fairmont 7-15 (Pooley, Rosch, Maakestad 2 each); St. Peter 3-19. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Fairmont 31 (Junkermeier 11, Jorgensen 8); St. Peter 25 (Guappone 5, Grant, Olson 4 each). Assists: Fairmont 12 (Jorgensen 4); St. Peter 18 (Grant, Olson 4 each). Steals: Fairmont 3; St. Peter 9. Blocks: Fairmont 2; St. Peter 3.

Fairmont held on for a 40-36 win during B-squad action Friday in Fairmont.

Armando Hernandez led the Cardinals with 11 points, while Jamie Mueller had eight. Gavin Rodning contributed seven points to the Cardinals’ winning effort, while Owen Burmeister had five.

St. Peter claimed a 53-31 win during C-squad play Friday in Fairmont.

Hadan Toomer led the Cardinals with eight points, while Ethan Geerdes dropped seven.

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Waseca 72, Blue Earth Area 47 — The Class AA No. 1-ranked Bluejays ended the Bucs’ undefeated start to the season during Big South Conference play Friday in Blue Earth.

Braden Gudahl led the Bucs with 13 points on 5 of 12 shooting, including three 3s, while Sam Keister neared a double-double with seven points and seven boards and Austin Thielfoldt dropped seven points.

Cameron Anderson added six points and six rebounds to the Bucs’ efforts.

Andrew Morgan led the Bluejays with a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds to complement six assists, while Kyreese Willingham added 19 points and six boards.

Ryan Dufault neared a double-double with 17 points and nine assists.

BEA (6-1) plays host to Glencoe-Silver Lake at 7 p.m. Monday. Waseca (7-0) waits a full week for its next game, when it plays host to Fairmont at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

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Girls Basketball

North Union 53, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura 52 (OT) — The Warriors held on for an overtime Top of Iowa Conference girls basketball win over the Cardinals on Friday in Garner.

The Von Bank sisters played major roles, with Vanessa Von Bank leading the Warriors with 17 points, including 5 made 3s, while Olivia Von Bank posted a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Cassie Beadle contributed nine points and three assists to the Warriors’ winning ways, while Lily Henderson had six points and nine assists.

Naomi Jones contributed three steals to the Warriors’ defense.

The Warriors made 16 of 41 shots overall including 9 of 25 from behind the 3-point arc and added 12 free throws on 21 attempts.

North Union (14-6) goes to Lake Mills for a 6:15 p.m. matchup Monday.

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Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther 31, Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 30 — Two Jaguars neared a double-double to power GHECTML to a Valley Conference win over the Bulldogs on Friday in Janesville.

Eden Studer produced eight points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Katelyn Diegnau also scored eight points and brought down seven boards.

Brooke Grathwohl tied for the team lead with eight points scored, while Kiana Preston contributed five caroms to the Jaguars’ win.

The Jaguars (4-2) travel to Madelia for a 7:15 p.m. matchup Monday.

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St. Peter 53, Fairmont 25 — Abby Maloney dropped 13 points, while Morgan Kelly had 10 to power the Saints past the Cardinals during Big South Conference action Friday in St. Peter.

Rhyan Holmgren also added nine points for the Saints.

Faith Olson and Madysen Allen tied for the Cardinal lead with six points, Olson on two 3s, while Allen also contributed three steals.

Brittney Mosloski added four points and five rebounds to the Cardinal efforts, while Maggy Totzke had four points.

The Cardinals made 8 of 31 shots overall, including 2 of 9 from behind the arc and added 7 made free throws on 9 attempts.

Fairmont (3-3) travels to Waseca at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

St. Peter took a 41-39 win over Fairmont in B-squad action Friday in St. Peter.

Ava Terfehr scored 11 points to lead the Cardinals, while Abby Cihoski contributed 10.

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Cleveland 49, Martin County West 42 — Macey Ziebarth scored 18 points, including a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point line, to power the Clippers past the Mavericks in Valley Conference play Friday in Cleveland.

Kaylee Karels added 11 points to the Clippers’ efforts.

Emily Anderson led the way for the Mavericks with 16 points on four 3s, while Kari Matejka contributed nine points and two more made shots from deep range.

Marissa Whitehead scored seven points for MCW and Emily Dunlop added five.

MCW (3-3) plays host to Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons in a 7:15 p.m. matchup Monday.

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Waseca 62, Blue Earth Area 39 — The Blue Jays overpowered the Bucs during Big South Conference basketball action Friday in Waseca.

No individual or team stats were reported for either team.

BEA (2-4) plays host to Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial at 7:15 p.m. Thursday.