GETTING VERTICAL — Blue Earth Area’s Ashton Lloyd (far right) elevates to squeeze a jumper over Fairmont defender Sawyer Tordsen during Big South Conference basketball action Monday night in Cardinal Gym. Fairmont’s Jackson Utermarck (5) and Zach Jorgensen (back left), along with Blue Earth Area’s Will Howard (20), watch the play. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Blue Earth Area senior forward Cameron Anderson played possessed.

At least that’s what Bucs’ head coach Colby Swanson said after Anderson scored 23 points, brought down seven rebounds and didn’t miss a shot in the second half of a 72-37 win over the Fairmont Cardinals on Monday night at Cardinal Gym.

“I don’t think I’ve seen Cam with that level of energy before,” Swanson said of Anderson’s performance in the Big South Conference clash. “He’s had some really good games, but tonight he wanted to take over the game. I was proud of how hard he worked on the defensive end and how hard he attacked the rim. He’s a fun kid to watch and his athleticism is something we don’t see around here very often.”

Anderson hit six shots in the second half, while dunking over Fairmont defenders three times.

The Bucs jumped ahead early.

Sam Keister won the opening tip-off, sending the ball to Gavin Storbeck, who immediately dished it to Anderson streaking down the sideline. Anderson went up for a layup to put the Bucs ahead eight seconds into the matchup.

Keister then assisted Austin Thielfoldt on a cutter through the lane, then Braden Gudahl turned a steal into one point when he hit the back half of two free throws.

Gavin Junkermeier put Fairmont on the scoreboard with 16:27 left in the opening half when he hit one of two free throws, then Gudahl assisted Storbeck for a left-corner 3 to put the Bucs up 8-1.

Anderson drove the lane for a floater before Jacob Crissinger hit two free throws for the Cardinals with 15:02 left.

Anderson hit two more floaters to put the Bucs ahead 14-3, before Zach Jorgensen hit Fairmont’s first field goal of the game on a steal-turned-breakaway layup with 11:47 left.

BEA kept the pressure on, scoring another 18 points in the first half to build a 32-14 lead at the break.

“Blue Earth (Area) played very well, they shot the ball very well and they played with a lot more intensity than we did in the first half,” Fairmont head coach Jared Thompson said. “In the second half, we came out with a lot of intensity, but when you’re down 18, and we didn’t execute as well as they did in either half. … The March habits that you need to be a winning team, there’s a lot of things you have to do and we didn’t do enough of them tonight.”

Junkermeier got the Cardinals started in the second half with a putback 2, then Gudahl drove the lane for two BEA points.

Thielfoldt then assisted Anderson for a cutter-turned-dunk over a Fairmont defender, then Gudahl assisted Storbeck for a left-corner 3 to extend the BEA lead to 39-16.

Junkermeier scored again for the Cardinals off an assist from David Maakestad, then Sawyer Tordsen added two points on free throws for the Cardinals.

Gudahl had added two free throws, then Anderson made an athletic up-and-under move for a layup before Tordsen’s attempts from the charity stripe.

Maakestad dished out another assist, this time helping Crissinger for a right-wing 3, before Gudahl assisted Anderson for a 3 from the right corner, putting the Bucs’ lead at 48-23.

BEA built a 15-6 run to extend its lead before both teams substituted out all their starters.

“That was our best defensive effort this year,” Swanson said. “That was probably our best overall performance of the year. We played with a lot of energy, we did a much better job of cleaning up the glass tonight than we did Friday. I think we did a good job making things difficult for Jorgensen, who’s a great player. And we made shots, we came out in the first half and made 3s, that was a probably a big reason why we were able to play with that extra defensive effort.”

Anderson hit 11 of 12 shots to build his 23 points, while Gudahl hit three 3s to help create 14 points to complement six assists.

Thielfoldt dished out a game-high seven assists, while Keister contributed 10 points to the Bucs’ effort.

Jorgensen led the Cardinals with 10 points and six rebounds, while Crissinger hit two 3s to help build his eight points.

Tordsen brought down five rebounds for the Cardinals, while Levi Pooley poked away three steals.

BEA ends its regular season with a record of 13-3, while Fairmont (6-8) plays one more regular-season game when it hosts Martin County West at 7:30 p.m. today.

“They need to play with energy, play together and play hard,” Thompson said of how the Cardinals can end their regular season on a high note. “… We’re gonna need energy from a lot of people.”

BEA 32-40–72

FMT 14-23–37

FAIRMONT (37)

Jorgensen 5-16 0-1 10, Crissinger 2-7 2-2 8, Junkermeier 2-3 1-3 5, Tordsen 1-3 2-3 4, Pooley 1-9 2-2 4, Winch 1-2 0-0 3, Francis 1-1 0-0 2, Schmidtke 0-0 1-2 1, Maakestad 0-1 0-0 0, Rosch 0-3 0-0 0, Utermarck 0-0 0-0 0, Rodning 0-0 0-0 0, Hernandez 0-1 0-1 0, Klanderud 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 13-47 8-14 37.

B.E. AREA (72)

Anderson 11-12 0-2 23, Gudahl 4-8 3-4 14, Keister 5-6 0-0 10, Storbeck 3-4 0-0 9, Lloyd 2-8 0-0 5, Torres 2-4 0-0 5, Thielfoldt 1-4 0-0 2, Howard 1-4 0-0 2, Douglas 1-1 0-0 2, Carr 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 30-52 3-6 72.

3-pointers: Fairmont 3-19; BEA 9-22 (Storbeck & Gudahl 3 each). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Fairmont 28 (Jorgensen 6, Tordsen 5, Crissinger & Hernandez 3 each); BEA 25 (Anderson 7, Gudahl & Howard 4 each). Assists: Fairmont 5; BEA 18 (Thielfoldt 7, Gudahl 6). Steals: Fairmont 5 (Pooley 3); BEA 9 (Storbeck & Gudahl 3 each). Blocks: Fairmont 2; BEA 5 (Lloyd 3).

Blue Earth Area claimed a 68-53 win over Fairmont during B-squad action Monday in Fairmont.

Armando Hernandez and Owen Burmeister both scored 11 points for the Cardinals, Prince Lebbi scored nine points and Sawyer Tordsen scored seven.

Ethan Geerdes scored 11 points to power the Cardinals to a 39-35 win over the Bucs during C-squad action Monday in Fairmont.

Blaze Geiger added nine points to the Cardinals’ efforts.

Martin County West 62, Alden-Conger 35 — Mitch Weber scored 20 points to power the Mavericks past the Knights during Valley Conference action Monday in Alden.

Zach Anderson neared a double-double with 14 points and seven rebounds to complement three steals, while Owen Runkle scored 10 points. Tanner Sinn brought down 11 caroms for MCW.

The Mavericks hit 11 of 32 shots from 2, 9 of 22 from 3 and shot 11-for-17 from the free throw line.

The Knights made 11 of 27 shots from 2, 3 of 21 from 3 and 4 of 10 from the charity stripe.

MCW (8-8) goes to Fairmont for a nonconference matchup at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

MCW 26-36–62

A-C 20-15–35

Girls Basketball

Martin County West 40, Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 31 — Marissa Whitehead scored 14 points to help power the Mavericks past the Bulldogs during Valley Conference action Monday night in Trimont.

Kari Matejka added nine points to the Mavericks’ efforts, while Liv Borchardt scored eight.

Emma Johnson led the Bulldogs with 11 points.

The MCW defense was able to hold the Bulldogs to 11 points in the first half to build a nine-point lead going into the break.

MCW (12-4) finishes its regular season with a nonconference matchup by playing host to Lester Prairie at 7 p.m. Thursday in Trimont.

JWP 11-20–31

MCW 20-20–40