UP FOR GRABS — Fairmont’s Levi Pooley (22) and Sawyer Tordsen (0) contend for a long rebound with Jackson County Central’s Roman Voss (2) during Big South Conference basketball action Friday night in Fairmont. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Travis Rogotzke and Roman Voss literally packed a 1-2 scoring punch to help Jackson County Central build a 39-22 first-half lead on the basketball scoreboard at Cardinal Gym on Friday night.

David Maakestad and Levi Pooley later counter-punched from the Fairmont backcourt during the second half to inch the hometown Cardinals within four points with 1:36 remaining in regulation.

Voss, a 6-foot-3 freshman who dons the No. 2 jersey, had the Big South Conference clash’s final word by finishing with game-best totals of eight rebounds, six assists and four steals to complement a team-high 17 points to help the visiting Huskies stave off the Cardinals, 61-56, Friday night in Fairmont.

“Roman just simply controlled most of the first half, so we had to find a way to limit his looks in the second half and I thought we did that to some degree,” Fairmont head coach Jared Thompson said in reference to Voss being held to four points during the final 18 minutes. “Jackson (County Central) had three different guys hit 3s in the first half and ironically, Roman was not one of them, so we weren’t expecting that.”

In fact, Christian Benda made a left-wing 3-pointer to trigger the Huskies’ 13-0 offensive surge that extended the visitors’ lead to 20-12 with 8 minutes left before intermission.

Ben Gallagher later converted one of Voss’ assists into a left-corner trey on the heels of Erik Hesebeck’s back-to-back baskets in the paint to transform JCC’s five-point deficit into an eight-point margin.

Gallagher later tossed in his second 3-pointer before Voss played an integral role in a 9-0 surge. Voss cleared a defensive board and went end-to-end for a lay-in, fired a long outlet pass to Rogotzke for a breakaway basket before Voss hit a putback off his own miss to build a 30-16 lead with 4 minutes remaining before halftime.

Trailing by 17 at the break, Thompson’s halftime speech inspired his Cardinals to emerge from the lockerroom and open the second half with a 13-5 run to whittle the gap to less than double figures.

Sawyer Tordsen, who finished with 10 points and a team-best seven rebounds, converted one of David Maakestad’s co-game-best six assists into a low-post leaner before the 6-7, 280-pounder cleaned the offensive glass for a putback.

Brendan Schmidtke tossed in a 12-foot runner in the lane before Hesebeck countered for JCC by finally scoring off a Voss assist.

Pooley, who finished with a game-best 19 points, delivered a traditional 3-point play before Benda sank his second trey of the night for the Huskies.

David Maakestad, who contributed 15 points and a co-game-best four steals to the Cardinals’ second-half comeback, buried a 3-pointer off a Schmidtke assist before Pooley did likewise off a Maakestad penetrate-and-kick play to inch within 44-37.

Maakestad’s third trifecta of the night and Hadan Toomer’s baseline banker reduced the Cardinals’ deficit to 49-46 with 8 1/2 minutes remaining in regulation.

Freshman Weston Rowe tossed in a clutch low-post leaner to right the ship for JCC at 51-46 before Voss muscled along the baseline before feeding Hesebeck for an 8-footer to give the visitors breathing room at 53-46 and 7 minutes to go.

Maakestad’s one-handed runner and a 12-foot palm floater later inched the Cardinals within 58-50 and time winding down to 3 1/2 minutes.

Rogotzke, who finished with 14 points, countered with a baseline bank to restore a 10-point lead, but Pooley knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to squeeze Fairmont within 60-56 with 1:30 remaining.

JCC missed a pair of free throws during the final 1:06, but Fairmont could not connect from behind the arc as the final differential proved five as Rogotzke hit a solo charity toss.

Hesebeck finished with 11 points and three steals for the Huskies.

Fairmont (1-8) travels to Worthington on Tuesday night for another conference game. Jackson County Central (7-2) plays Sergeant Bluff-Luton (Iowa) at 12:40 p.m. today at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The Huskies return to league action Tuesday night when they play host to Luverne.

JCC 39-22–61

FMT 22-34–56

FAIRMONT (56)

S. Tordsen 5-7 0-3 10, Schmidtke 1-4 0-0 2, Junkermeier 1-2 0-0 2, Pooley 6-16 4-4 19, D. Maakestad 6-13 0-0 15, Geiger 1-4 0-1 2, Toomer 2-5 0-0 4, T. Maakestad 1-3 0-0 2, Hilgendorf 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 4-8 56.

JCC (61)

Voss 6-12 5-7 17, Hendricks 1-1 0-0 3, Hesebeck 5-11 1-2 11, Benda 2-3 0-0 6, Rogotzke 5-9 2-4 14, Rowe 2-3 0-0 4, Gallagher 2-4 0-0 6, Farmer 0-0 0-0 0, Freking 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-43 8-13 61.

3-pointers: JCC 7-14 (Benda, Rogotzke and Gallagher 2 each; Hendricks 1); Fairmont 6-23 (Pooley and D. Maakestad 3 each). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Fairmont 29 (S. Tordsen 7); JCC 29 (Voss 8). Assists: JCC 13 (Voss 6); Fairmont 9 (D. Maakestad 6). Steals: JCC 12 (Voss 4); Fairmont 9 (D. Maakestad 4).

Jackson County Central held off Fairmont’s second-half comeback, 47-43, during B-squad action Friday.

Oliver Tordsen delivered 18 points to top the Cardinals, Nolan Schultze tossed in nine points, while Harmon Schrunk added six points.

Joe Long netted 12 points to steer Fairmont to a 40-24 win over JCC during C-squad action Friday night.

Tavian Harvey contributed nine points to the Cardinals’ winning performance, while Joseph Hackett supplied seven points.