Fairmont squeezes out ‘W’ over MCW
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FAIRMONT -- By talking to Fairmont Cardinals head boys basketball coach Jared Thompson, one wouldn't think his squad was on a six-game losing streak.
That streak came to end on Saturday in a 46-44 thrilling down-to-the-wire victory over the Martin County West Mavericks at Cardinal Gym.
"We don't talk a lot about wins and losses. We try to build habits. This year was tested. It gets heavy. The fight's been there and you can see it. We haven't started games very well. We have always fought back. Unfortunately, we have given up too many leads in the first half and it's hard to overcome," Thompson said.
The Cardinals only trailed three times and led on eight occasions. With the game on the line in the final 2:06, a pair of juniors came through for the Cardinals as Levi Pooley and Blaze Geiger contributed with key baskets. Pooley's shot was on a 35-second shot-clock beater that gave the Cardinals a 44-42 lead.
With the game tied at 44, it only took seven passes around the perimeter with 21.1 seconds remaining as senior guard Brendan Schmidtke earned his third assist of game by dishing to Geiger in the paint for the game's final lead change.
"I heard the bench counting down. I got into the paint. I was looking to dish it out. No one was open, so I slowed my mind down and spun to find a decent shot, banking it in," Pooley said.
"I saw two guys on him and he luckily found me. I was sitting there in the short corner. I dumped one in right off the glass. I missed four in a row before that. That one just sat there as I hit it off left corner of the glass. It kept spinning around. I was hoping it would go in and luckily it did," Geiger said.
The Mavericks had two opportunities to spoil the Cardinals' hard-fought win as forward Zach Anderson and guard Mitchell Weber tried going home with a game-winner with two open looks from the left arc, but couldn't hit one as Fairmont senior post player Sawyer Tordsen snagged his seventh rebound of the game.
"The first half, our shots we falling. We were feeling pretty good," said Zach Anderson, who finished with a game-high 20 points. "The second half they picked up their physicality. We were having a tough time making shots. When you aren't making shots, it's tough to come out.
"I had a good look. The defender went under the screen. I have made that shot multiple times, so I felt confident I could make it, but it just didn't go my way. I had three seconds to shoot. It was a spur-of-the-moment shot."
"We had a play ran before that. We scrambled and had to get something going. Their defensive effort got to us -- rebounding especially. We didn't play as aggressive as them. It was definitely a good look. I gotta hit that, especially in a late game. I felt pretty confident shooting it. I didn't feel rushed. It was a good catch-and-shoot look. It was right on-line, but just came up short from the rim," Weber said.
The Cardinals got off to a fast start by winning the opening tip and getting back-to-back buckets by Tordsen. The Mavericks eventually pulled away for a 12-6 lead. Tordsen used his physicality to his advantage to spark a 5-0 run for the Cardinals, with an assist to David Maakestad and getting hacked.
"That definitely set the tone right away. It's always the first few minutes that determines how it's going to go. It was a great cut. We were struggling with our cuts recently. This game everything clicked together," said Tordsen. "It's pretty much an every game occurance."
The Mavericks' biggest lead of the game was 27-20 with 4:39 remaining in the first half.Anderson knocked down a wide-open 3-pointer, but Pooley ended the half by giving the Cardinals the confidence they needed by hitting a 3 with 28 seconds remaining as they would trail 28-25.
"We were rotating the ball trying to get some good looks," said Pooley. "We had an inbound play and it came out to the wing. I got a really good screen from (Tordsen). The ball got rotated finally went up. It felt great after the release and finally went in to break my cold stretch in the first half."
"I told them I was proud of them. I knew how much they wanted it," said Thompson.
Fairmont (2-10) plays host to Blue Earth Area on Friday night, while Martin County West (8-8) travels to Madelia on Tuesday night.
Nolan Schultze connected on four 3-pointers to pace a 16-point performance to steer Fairmont to a 52-45 win over Martin County West during B-squad action Saturday.
Trevor Maakestad netted 10 points for the Cardinals, while Harmon Schrunk supplied nine points.
Merritt Pomerenke scored 14 points to lead Fairmont to a 61-17 victory over Martin County West during C-squad action Saturday.
Joe Long contributed seven points for the Cardinals.
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West Hancock 47, North Union 46 -- Rylan Barnes poured in a game-best 23 points to help the Eagles hold on for a one-point overtime win over the Warriors during Top of Iowa Conference action Friday night in Britt, Iowa.
Grady Madden sank a 3-pointer with seven-tenths of a second remaining in the extra session to draw the Warriors within one. Madden also drained a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Madden finished with nine points on three treys, while teammate Logan Odegaard scored 11 points and pulled down six rebounds for North Union.
Kyan Jones collected nine points, doled out six assists and pocketed three steals for the Warriors, Preston Guerdet netted eight points and Teagon Fothergill pulled down five boards to go with three steals.
Rhett Eisenman scored 14 points for the Eagles, who outscored the Warriors by a 7-6 margin in the extra session.
North Union (9-6) travels to Eagle Grove, Iowa, tonight for a rescheduled game.