TWO MORE POINTS — Fairmont’s Levi Pooley (22), shown firing a baseline jumper during regular-season basketball action, scored a team-best 19 points during the Cardinals’ Section 3AA, South Sub-Section quarterfinal loss to the Arrows on Saturday night in Pipestone. (Photo by Greg Abel/Sentinel Archives)

PIPESTONE — Merrick Heidebrink’s sharpshooting skills carried Pipestone Area to a 36-29 halftime lead over Fairmont before Kellen Johnson’s point production prowess capped the No. 2-seeded Arrows’ 68-53 basketball playoff victory over the No. 7-seeded Cardinals on Saturday night.

Pipestone Area (13-11) advances to face No. 6-seeded Montevideo (12-13) in a 7:30 p.m. Section 3AA, South Sub-Section semifinal on Thursday night in Windom. The Thunder Hawks upended No. 3-seeded Windom Area, 83-73.

Fairmont ended its season with a 7-18 record.

“Pipestone played very physical,” said Fairmont head coach Jared Thompson, whose lineup also lost a 63-53 regular-season game to the Arrows on Feb. 9. “We kept battling back, but they kept answering.”

Levi Pooley, who poured in a team-best 19 points, and Sawyer Tordsen, who netted a double-double performance of 15 points and a co-game-high 10 rebounds, helped Fairmont match Pipestone Area to early ties at 2, 5, 7 and 9 before Heidebrink’s “couldn’t miss” shooting effort helped fuel the home team’s 13-2 surge.

After Tordsen’s putback basket inched the Cardinals to 16-13, Heidebrink floated home a runner before snapping the net on a pull-up 3-pointer to help the Arrows begin to create separation on the scoreboard.

Pipestone Area guard Tagon Woelber tossed in a solo free throw before banking in a stop-and-pop lay-in off a midcourt steal to force Fairmont to call timeout trailing 24-13 at the 8:36 juncture of the first half.

Pooley temporarily interrupted the Arrows hitting their mark by skying home a baseline pull-up jumper before Heidebrink buried the third of his four first-half treys for a 27-15 edge.

“We got some good looks in the first half, and the shots were falling for us,” said Pipestone Area head coach Michael Slaba, whose lineup connected on 15 of 25 field goals overall for 60 percent, including 5 of 11 behind the 3-point arc, in the opening 18 minutes. “Merrick carried us during the first half with Kellen on the bench with two early fouls before Kellen carried us in the second half.”

Heidebrink blistered the nets on 7-for-9 shooting — including 4 of 6 from behind the 3-point arc — during the first half to produce 18 of his game-high 20 points.

Johnson then tossed in 15 of his 18 points during the second segment to help the Arrows pull away for good with a 10-2 run with 10 1/2 minutes remaining in regulation.

After Hadan Toomer sank two free throws and a layup to reduce Fairmont’s deficit to 47-39, Breylon Kuiper fed Caden Strasser for a low-post leaner before Johnson converted a one-and-one situation.

David Maakestad doled out one of his three assists to Blaze Geiger for a baseline leaner for the Cardinals at 51-41 before the Arrows countered via a Landon Quist’s putback basket. Quist pulled down a co-game-best 10 boards for Pipestone Area.

Johnson followed with a one-and-one conversion and a putback basket to create a comfortable 57-41 margin with 7 minutes remaining.

Woelber contributed seven points and game-highs of six steals and four assists to the Arrows’ winning performance, while Kuiper knocked down a pair of 3-pointers for six points off the bench.

Fairmont     29-24–53

Pipestone    36-32–68

FAIRMONT (53)

Pooley 8-18 0-0 19, S. Tordsen 5-8 5-13 15, Geiger 2-7 0-0 4, Schmidtke 0-0 2-2 2, D. Maakestad 1-7 0-0 3, Junkermeier 0-1 0-0 0, Toomer 1-2 3-4 5, Schrunk 1-3 1-2 3, Hilgendorf 0-1 0-0 0, O. Tordsen 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 19-48 11-21 53.

PIPESTONE (68)

Woelber 3-7 1-2 7, Heidebrink 8-12 0-0 20, K. Johnson 6-10 4-5 18, Borman 5-12 0-0 10, Strasser 2-3 0-1 4, Quist 1-2 1-2 3, Holt 0-1 0-2 0, Kuiper 2-3 0-0 6, Fey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-51 6-12 68.

3-pointers: Pipestone Area 8-19 (Heidebrink 4-7, K. Johnson 2-3, Kuiper 2-2, Borman 0-4, Woelber 0-1, Quist 0-1, Fey 0-1); Fairmont 4-18 (Pooley 3-9, D. Maakestad 1-6, Toomer 0-1, Hilgendorf 0-1, Geiger 0-1). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Fairmont 28 (Tordsen 10); Pipestone 26 (Quist 10). Assists: Pipestone 12 (Woelber 4); Fairmont 8 (D. Maakestad and Toomer 3 each). Steals: Pipestone 10 (Woelber 6); Fairmont 4.