Staff Photo by Jake Olson: Fairmont's Logan Junkermeier battles in the paint during the second half of Tuesday night's game at Blue Earth Area. Junkermeier capped his strong night off with 29 points and 15 rebounds.

BLUE EARTH – With just over three minutes remaining in Tuesday night’s contest at Blue Earth Area, Fairmont point guard Brayden Williamson glanced at a ticking shot clock with his team down 3. Driving deep into the paint, Williamson kicked it out to Joseph Hackett, who calmly stepped into his shot from outside to give the Cardinals a 47-46 edge and their first lead since early in the game.

That moment completed Fairmont’s climb out of a 9-point halftime hole, and set the tone for a 61-52 comeback victory in overtime in a Big South Conference, Gold Division boys basketball game.

Fairmont (2-1, 2-1) outscored BEA by 18 points across the second half and overtime periods to flip the game in its favor.

“It was just a really fun basketball game against two good teams that are separated by 20 miles,” Fairmont head coach Jared Thompson said. “Colby [Swanson] does a great job; they’ve got a really good basketball team. We feel like we are on our way to having a really good basketball team.”

Logan Junkermeier led the Cardinals with an impressive double-double, scoring 29 points and hauling in 15 rebounds. Hackett’s 14-point night was sparked after knocking down three baskets during the final five minutes of game time.

William Bromeland, who powered all Buccaneers in points with 23, helped his team to a momentum-swinging first-half lead against. Sullivan Dahlberg’s drive-by layup gave BEA its largest lead of the period at 24-14, causing Thompson to burn a quick timeout at the eight-minute mark.

Dahlberg struck once more with a corner 3-pointer as time expired, putting a final exclamation point on the first 18-minute session that gave BEA a 31-22 advantage over a reeling Cardinal roster. Despite the deficit, Thompson was confident his team would mount a comeback.

“We were down 9 at half while going 0 for 11 from 3 with four turnovers,” Thompson said. “We just kind of weathered that storm.”

It started on defense. Thompson’s implementation of a 2-3 zone began to slow the BEA offensive attack from late in the first half onward, limiting unfavorable matchups on Bromeland while giving the opponent a completely different look.

Despite cutting the lead to 5 and 7 points a handful of times, the Buccaneers always had an answer on the other end of the court. Bromeland’s and-one layup sparked a mini 7-point scoring run after the Cardinals turned it over on consecutive trips, giving BEA a 43-31 cushion.

Fairmont followed this with layups from Joe Long, Tavian Harvey and Reed Johnson, causing Thompson to call a quick timeout with seven minutes remaining to set up a 1-3-1 full-court pressure scheme.

Both of Thompson’s new defensive tactics continued to disrupt the BEA scoring, allowing the Cardinals to slowly but surely crawl their way back into the contest. Following Hackett’s game-leading 3, Junkermeier laid one up to further extend the lead to 49-46 with less than two minutes to play.

“My assistant Jay Reun said, ‘This is where playing 10 [guys] is going to help us,'” Thompson said. “Their jump shots were a little more tired. We started making shots, and I think our energy had a little more in the end because of the strength in numbers.”

BEA had one more chance to tie the game while facing the same deficit with 37 seconds to play. The Bucs found the soft spot in the zone with Kellen Fritz shooting and sinking a wide-open corner 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime.

An outside shot from Bromeland to open the additional four minutes were the only points the BEA offensive attack could produce. Hackett capped a personal five point swing with a top of the key 3-pointer that felt like the early nail in the coffin.

“It was only a matter of time, he’s [Hackett] got ice and can hit the big shot,” Thompson said. “If he’s open late in the game, I will take my chances.”

After Fritz missed a shot on the other end, Junkermeir sealed things off with an authoritative and-one layup to bring the Cardinals’ lead to 58-52 with 57 seconds remaining in the contest. Hackett and Junkermeier made a handful of free throws to extend the advantage further, solidifying this comeback effort with a win.

Fairmont (2-1) will continue its season this Friday with a home game against Jackson County Central starting at 7 p.m.