POWER IN THE PAINT ­— Fairmont Area’s Harmon Schrunk (4) elevates to power past Marshall defenders Jackson Baynard (23) and Cooper Mensink (5) during Big South Conference basketball action Tuesday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. The Cardinals went on to win, 62-49. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Fairmont head coach Jared Thompson utilized one of the basic Zen meditation methods to help his Cardinal basketball players “not think about thinking.”

“We talked in practice about blocking out the ‘noise’ and having a positive belief in one’s self,” said Thompson. “After losing by 25 to Blue Earth (Area) on Friday night, we had to regain our mental focus.”

Hadan Toomer, Levi Pooley and their Cardinal teammates did exactly that in rallying from a 28-23 halftime deficit to exit Cardinal Gym with a 62-49 victory over the Marshall Tigers on Tuesday night in Fairmont.

“I know it sounds odd, but instead of playing emotionally, we played with a passion for the game tonight,” said Thompson, whose lineup forced 23 Marshall turnovers while committing just 14 on the Big South Conference clash.

Trailing the hard-pressing Tigers 40-35 seven minutes into the second half, Harmon Schrunk and Logan Junkermeier came off the Fairmont bench to help Blaze Geiger and Pooley assemble a 9-0 offensive surge to capture the home team’s first lead since 14-13.

Schrunk muscled home two of his seven points on a one-handed in the low post and Junkermeier hit a putback basket for two of his eight points to whittle the Cardinals’ deficit to one with 8:38 remaining in regulation.

Geiger, who scored only four points but pocketed a game-best five steals to go with three assists, swung a 41-40 lead to Fairmont on an alert follow basket at the 8-minute juncture.

“Blaze made a heads-up putback off our missed shot right after the 35-second clock went off, but the play was still alive since we hit the rim,” said Thompson. “Great court awareness on his part.”

Pooley, who finished with 13 points and a game-best seven boards, then delivered a pivotal defensive gem via a steal that led to a traditional 3-point play to widen the gap to 44-40.

Marshall forward Ashton Blomberg converted one of Alex Franson’s game-best five assists for a low-post lay-in before Franson cashed in two free throws to knot the game at 44-all with 6:21 remaining.

“Ironically, we only made three 3-pointers all night, but the timely of those last two by Nolan Schultze and Joseph Hackett (respectively) could not have come more perfectly,” said Thompson.

Schrunk spotted Schultze for a tiebreaking trifecta from the left corner before Junkermeier cleaned the glass for a putback basket to build a 49-44 lead. Junkermeier then blocked a Marshall shot at the 4:28 juncture to take the wind out of the Tigers’ potential comeback.

Toomer, who finished with a game-high 16 points, floated home a lateral runner before Hackett buried a left-key 3 off a Pooley skip pass to extend Fairmont’s lead to 10 with 3:45 left in regulation.

Despite Cooper Mensink drilling his game-best fourth 3-pointer for Marshall, Pooley proved a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line and Toomer added a pair of charity tosses during the final 3 minutes to close out the clutch win for Fairmont.

Schrunk, Junkermeier, Schultze and Hackett combined for 23 vital points and nine rebounds off the Cardinals’ bench.

Franson tallied a game-best 16 points to go with his five steals and five assists.

Fairmont (2-2) plays host to Pipestone Area at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night, while Marshall (3-3) is idle until playing host to Tea, South Dakota, in its own Holiday Classic at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29, at Southwest Minnesota State University.

Marshall     28-21–49

Fairmont    23-39–62

FAIRMONT (62)

Maakestad 1-7 2-2 4, Geiger 2-5 0-0 4, Tordsen 1-3 0-2 2, Pooley 4-13 5-5 13, Toomer 6-7 3-6 16, Schrunk 3-6 1-2 7, Hackett 1-2 0-0 3, Schultze 2-3 0-0 5, Junkermeier 4-6 0-0 8. Totals 24-52 11-17 62.

MARSHALL (49)

Baynard 0-5 0-0 0, Koster 3-5 0-0 6, Myhre 1-2 0-0 3, Vierstraete 0-5 0-0 0, Franson 5-14 4-4 16, Mensink 4-10 0-0 12, Blomberg 3-5 2-4 8, Kepler 2-5 0-0 4, Parsons 0-1 0-0 0, Leibfried 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-53 6-8 49.

3-pointers: Marshall 7-26 (Mensink 4, Franson 2, Myhre 1); Fairmont 3 (Toomer, Hackett and Schultze 1 each). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Marshall 31 (Koster 7); Fairmont 30 (Pooley 7). Assists: Marshall 9 (Franson 5); Fairmont 6 (Geiger 3). Steals: Fairmont 12 (Geiger 5); Marshall 10 (Franson 5).

Marshall eclipsed Fairmont in B-squad action, 59-25, Tuesday night at Cardinal Gym.

Marshall edged Fairmont in C-squad play, 37-33, Tuesday night in Fairmont.

Brayden Williamson netted 10 points to top the Cardinals, while Reed Johnson contributed nine points.

Johnson tallied 11 points and Josh Soelter scored nine points to guide Fairmont to a 55-23 C-squad win over Blue Earth Area last Friday night.

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Blue Earth Area 87, Windom Area 66 — Will Bromeland and Gage Barker combined for 50 points, including connecting for 12 of the Bucs’ 20 3-pointers to eclipse the Eagles by 21 during Big South Conference action Tuesday night in Blue Earth.

Bromeland erupted for a game-best 31 points on the strength of a game-high seven trifectas, while Barker delivered 19 points by draining five treys.

Jacob Grandgenett contributed seven points and doled out three assists for Blue Earth Area, while Max Loge hauled down a team-leading nine rebounds.

Branson Hauskins supplied seven rebounds and three assists for the Bucs, while both Taylor Davids and Sullivan Dahlberg distributed three helpers each.

The Bucs blistered the nets on 20 of 41 shots from behind the arc, hit 12 of 23 from 2-point range and added 3 of 5 at the free throw line.

The Bucs built a 48-33 halftime lead and never trailed on the game.

Blue Earth Area (4-1) travels to St. James Area on Thursday night for another conference game.

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Madelia 61, Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther 49 — Kyle Pietsch collected a game-best double-double performance of 17 points and 14 rebounds to engineer the Blackhawks’ 12-point Valley Conference victory over the Jaguars on Tuesday night in Northrop.

Tony Zaleski contributed 15 points to Madelia’s winning ways, Josiah DeMaris tossed in 14 points, while Tate Becker added 11 points.

Carter Fox produced 14 points, six rebounds and three assists to help pace the Jaguars, while Jackson Madsen chipped in 13 points and four boards.

Bryce Borkenhagen tallied nine points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals for the Jaguars, while Braeden Shell added seven points.

The Jaguars (1-4) play host to New Ulm Cathedral on Thursday night in Northrop.

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Girls Basketball

Fairmont 51, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 47 — The Cardinals rallied from first-half foul difficulties to capture a four-point nonconference triumph over the Knights on Tuesday night in Lake Crystal.

Grace Pendergast produced 14 points, three steals and three blocked shots to top Fairmont, while teammate Nevaeh Rahm shared game-high scoring honors by netting 14 points to complement six rebounds.

Brylee Miller tossed in 10 points for the Cardinals, Ellie Ortega delivered seven points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Ava Terfehr distributed three assists and pocketed three steals.

The Cardinals made 22 of 45 shots from 2-point distance, 3 of 12 behind the arc and 4 of 6 at the free throw line.

Fairmont (5-1) plays host to Pipestone Area at 6 p.m. Thurday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont.

Makayla Lowry neared double-double territory by scoring 19 points to go with grabbing nine rebounds to steer Fairmont to a 39-19 win over Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial during B-squad action Tuesday night in Lake Crystal.

Makenzie Lowry tossed in 10 points for the Cardinals, who improved to 5-1 on the season.

Abbie Simpson scored 17 points and teammate Gwyneth Schultz contributed 14 points to Fairmont’s 42-26 triumph over LCWM during C-squad action Tuesday night in Lake Crystal.