A Tavian Harvey fastbreak layup and Logan Junkermeier’s post finish prompted a timeout from Cardinal head coach Jared Thompson, his team down 52-43 with over four minutes left in regulation.

This time around the Huskies didn’t allow a Fairmont comeback. Roman Voss scored six of his team’s next eight points, including back-to-back fast break layups, to cement a 70-52 Jackson County Central victory.

The Huskies will take on Montevideo this Saturday in the section semifinals. Montevideo took down Luverne 74-59 earlier in the night.

“That’s why he’s as special as he is,” Jackson County Central head coach Alex Hein said on Voss. “He can win in so many ways for us. Defensively, he got steals and was able to handle their [Fairmont] guards and bigs. …He can take over the game in so many ways.”

Photo by Jake Olson: Fairmont's Reed Johnson looks for his shot against Jackson County Central's Sullivan Hall during the first half of Tuesday night's contest in Windom.

Voss finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and three assists, while Blaise Rowe added 19 points of his own, including five outside shots. Weston Rowe finished with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Junkermeier and Harvey were the lone Cardinals finding double figures on the night, scoring 21 and 12 points, respectively. Joseph Hackett notched nine points and six rebounds.

“These kids bought into sacrificing for each other and did all the little things we asked them to do,” Thompson said. “We wanted the journey to go on a little bit longer, but at the end of the day, we are going to have a lot of good memories.”

Much like the last time these two teams faced each other, the Huskies’ defensive effort and crisp shot-making guided them to a double-digit halftime lead.

Blaise Rowe’s 3-pointer and a Gallagher offensive rebound putback guided Jackson County Central to a 33-22 advantage going into the break. Weston Rowe had 13 points in the opening half on five made field goals, two of which came from behind the arc.

“We just didn’t play well in the first half, and they [Jackson County Central] were ready,” Thompson said. “Jackson shot incredibly well in the first half, and we did not. They rebounded better than us the whole game. Those are just factors.”

Voss began to slowly imprint his mark on the game to open the second half. Following a quick Junkermeier score to cut the deficit under double figures, Voss helped orchestrate a seven-point swing that pushed the Huskies to their largest lead of the night at 40-24, capping the run off with an and-one layup and a pair of free throws.

“We came out [in the first half] and hit three 3-pointers because they were so collapsed on Roman. That allowed Blaise and Weston to get open shots,” Hein said. “In the second half, when they had to run out harder on them, Roman was able to do his thing at the hoop.”

Fairmont tightened the gap slightly after a Harvey transition 3-pointer brought it back to a 12-point game. A coast-to-coast layup from Brayden Williamson and two free throws from Junkermeier trimmed the margin to nine with under seven minutes to play.

“In the second half, we shot a little better and sometimes it really comes down to that,” Thompson said. “They still kept us at arm’s length the whole game, but we did offensively play a little bit better in the second half.”