Photos by Jake Olson: Fairmont's Logan Junkermeier fends off the Windom Area defense during the second half of Friday night's Section 3AA Tournament matchup in the Cardinal gymnasium. Junkermeier finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds.

FAIRMONT – All it took was one stop.

After Fairmont’s Reed Johnson muscled in another interior score, a Brayden Williamson half-court steal led to a coast-to-coast layup on the other end, finishing a four-point swing in the final minute of Friday night’s Section 3AA Tournament matchup against Windom Area.

Fairmont used this late surge to take down the Eagles 68-65, advancing to a quarterfinal matchup against Jackson County Central next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

“That little bit of separation just put pressure on Windom, and we needed that,” Fairmont head coach Jared Thompson said of Williamson’s steal. “Big time players make big time plays.”

Logan Junkermeier and Johnson combined for over half of the Cardinals’ points in the winning effort. Junkermeier notched a 27-point and 13-rebound double-double, while Johnson netted 16 points and six rebounds on eight made field goals.

Williamson scored seven of his 10 points during the final two minutes of the contest and added seven rebounds and four steals. Joseph Hackett’s two outside shots fueled his eight-point performance.

“Down the stretch it was a dog fight,” Thompson said. “We got just enough stops when we needed, but Windom made it really hard on us tonight. They played so well.”

Nothing seemed to faze the Cardinals in the opening three minutes of play. Fueled by three forced turnovers, Fairmont opened up the contest with a quick 9-0 run, capped by Williamson’s offensive rebound kicking out to Junkermeier for a catch-and-shoot 3.

But the Eagles responded with a perimeter attack of their own. After Hayden Tietz missed a free throw on a four-point play attempt, Elliot Serreyn snagged the rebound at the high post before kicking to Jackson Joyce on the opposite wing, who capped off the five-point possession to take a 14-13 advantage.

Windom’s lead grew to six following consecutive scores from Serreyn beneath the Cardinal defense with eight minutes left in the opening half.

Junkermeier and Johnson carried Fairmont the rest of the half by scoring 11 of the team’s final 14 points. Junkermeier’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer gave the Cardinals a 33-31 advantage heading into the break.

“Logan and Reed kept us in the game in that first half,” Thompson said. “They kept us afloat and got us ahead going into halftime.”

The second half continued to show the Eagles matching Fairmont’s energy every step of the way. Windom Area took another two-possession lead, 45-40, following low-post finishes from Serreyn and Henry Visker and a transition layup by Tietz off a Cardinal turnover.

Fairmont responded with an 11-3 scoring run to retake the lead for the first time since the 14-minute mark. Starting with layups from Junkermeier and Johnson, the Cardinals forced Eagles’ head coach Kobe Lovell to call a timeout after Hackett drained a left-side 3 with under seven minutes to go.

“In the second half I thought that everybody contributed,” Thompson said. “I thought everybody relaxed a little bit [on offense] and that’s what we needed.”

The Cardinals stretched their lead to four and five points twice in a handful of minutes following a layup from Junkermeier and an outside shot from Williamson. But the final four-point run extended the advantage to 64-57 with one minute to go.

Both Junkermeier and Williamson knocked down a pair of free throws to keep the game two possessions during the waning seconds of the contest, sealing Fairmont’s playoff victory.

Fairmont’s Tuesday night matchup against the Huskies will take place at Windom High School, starting at 7:30. Jackson County Central topped the Cardinals 63-60 the last time these two teams fought on Feb. 14.