TRACKING IT DOWN — Fairmont’s Harmon Schrunk picks up the loose basketball while teammates Blaze Geiger (10), Joseph Hackett (3) and Oliver Tordsen look on during Big South Conference action at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. The Cardinals went on to post a 76-46 victory over Windom Area on Friday night. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — The hard-working Levi Pooley propelled the Fairmont Cardinals boys basketball team to a 76-46 Big South Conference win over the Windom Area Eagles on Friday night from Cardinal Gym.

Pooley dropped 26 points to eclipse the 1,000-point mark for his career with a leaning trey ball from the left wing during the second half. Pooley becomes the sixth player to achieve the feat in Fairmont boys basketball history.

Cardinals’ head coach Jared Thompson heaped praise on the senior guard after the win.

“He found his rhythm early, I think his teammates were looking for him and I truly believe they were trying to find him,” Thompson said. “He hit the 3 from the same spot he hit a game-winning shot against Jackson (County Central) in the first round of the playoffs, so yeah, I’m just proud of him and I’ve coached a lot of hard-working kids and I’m not saying he’s the hardest, but no one outworks him.”

Pooley wasn’t alone in producing well for the Cardinals in the win.

Despite some first-half foul trouble and frustration, junior big man Oliver Tordsen finished the night with a solid nine points to go with nine boards. His partner in the frontcourt, sophomore Logan Junkermeier, ended the night with eight points and seven rebounds and played aggressively throughout.

The Cardinals held a 33-23 lead as the two sides went to the locker room for intermission.

Cardinals’ guard Hadan Toomer came to life in the second half, nabbing four steals in the victory to go with his nine points. The balanced scoring attack helped Fairmont keep Windom Area on its toes.

The Eagles were led by senior Drew Rothenberger in the loss. Rothenberger was active on both ends of the floor, collecting 16 points on the night to go with his five boards and five steals.

Helping him with the ball-handling duties was fellow senior guard Eli Lund. Lund couldn’t dial it in from long distance with consistency, but still managed to put up 13 points to go with is five rebounds and four assists.

Lastly, after taking an elbow to the forehead in the first half, freshman forward Elliot Serreyn came back to the game to finish with 10 points and six rebounds for the Eagles in the loss.

With the loss, Windom Area (8-16) will look to get in the win column at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against Springfield at home in Windom.

Following the win, Fairmont (12-11) will look to keep the momentum going as it approaches the back end of the season at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night against Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial at Cardinal Gym in a nonconference game.

Windom    23-23–46

Fairmont   33-43–76

FAIRMONT (76)

Pooley 10-21 3-5 26, Toomer 4-10 0-2 9, Tordsen 4-5 1-4 9, Junkermeier 2-4 4-4 8, Schultze 2-4 0-0 6, Hackett 2-3 0-0 5, Schrunk 1-3 2-2 4, Geiger 1-6 0-0 2, Maakestad 1-2 0-0 2, Gilbertson 1-2 0-0 3, Laven 0-0 2-4 2, Long 0-1 0-0 0.

WINDOM AREA (46)

Rothenberger 6-12 3-6 16, Lund 5-15 0-0 13, Serreyn 4-7 2-5 10, Erickson 1-7 1-1 3, Jensen 0-3 2-2 2, Kleven 1-2 0-2 2, Rossow 0-3 0-0 0, Steffen 0-2 0-0 0, Joyce 0-1 0-0 0, Lensing 0-1 0-0 0, Green 0-1 0-0 0.

The Fairmont B-squad got a win as well 52-39 over Windom Area on Friday night.

Joe Long and Tavian Harvey led the way for the Cardinals by dropping 12 points each.

Reed Johnson scored 10 points in the win as well. Brett Williams made up the fourth member of the attack with eight points on the night. A strong 33-point second-half effort earned the Cardinals the win.

Fairmont completed the sweep of Windom Area in C-squad action. The Cardinals defeated the Eagles 53-28 on Friday.

Reed Johnson led the way for the Cardinals, scoring 14 points in the victory. He was accompanied by Joey Crissinger, who scored nine points.

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Glenville-Emmons 82, GHEC/Truman/Martin Luther 69 — Marshall Baseman erupted for 36 points to propel the Wolverines to a 13-point Valley Conference win over the Jaguars on Friday night in Glenville.

Carter Fox neared triple-double territory for the Jaguars by producing 15 points, 10 blocked shots and eight rebounds, while Carson Hastad scored 15 points.

Brody Grathwohl supplied 14 points for the Jaguars, while Bryce Borkenhagen chipped in 11 points and six rebounds.

The Jaguars (10-14) travel to Cedar Mountain/Morgan on Tuesday night.

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Girls Basketball

Sleepy Eye 70, GHEC/Truman/Martin Luther 53 — Kadence Hesse poured in 31 points and teammate Breaunna Mertz contributed 28 more to power the Class 1A No. 5-ranked Indians to a 17-point non-league win over the Jaguars on Friday night in Sleepy Eye.

McKenna Benck produced 11 points, six steals and five assists to pace the Jaguars’ outing, while Bethany Petrowiak supplied 10 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots.

Olivia Mattson and Londyn Bowers each delivered eight points for the Jaguars, while Madisen Lewis chipped in six points, seven boards and four blocks.

The Jaguars (19-5) play host to Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s on Tuesday night in Granada in a non-league game. Sleepy Eye (22-2) travels to Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop on Monday night.