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FAIRMONT - Brennan Holm would likely be an opposing basketball coach's last choice to foul during the latter stages of a game.

Why? The 6-foot-5 senior forward is a 90-percent career free-throw shooter - the best in the rich history of the Fairmont boys program.

Holm literally put his shooting skills on the line Saturday night, sinking both ends of one-and-one situations at the 14.1- and 7.7-second junctures to seal the Cardinals' 51-46 first-round playoff victory over the St. James Saints in Fairmont.

No. 2-seeded Fairmont (17-7) advances to face No. 3-seeded Windom Area at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Section 3AA, South Sub-Section semifinals in Jackson. The Eagles gained the second round via a 62-60 victory over No. 6-seeded Jackson County Central.

No. 7-seeded St. James ended its season with a 6-19 record.

"We like to have him at the line during the end of the game," Cardinal mentor Ray Hassing said in reference to Holm, who's connecting on charity tosses at a team-leading 88-percent clip this season.

Holm's second one-and-one conversion at the stripe came on the heels of teammate Justin Heinrich's momentum-turning theft of a Saints' inbound pass.

"It's difficult to beat a team three times in the same season, so home-court advantage definitely helped our cause tonight," said Hassing, whose lineup needed overtime to edge St. James 63-60 on Jan. 8 prior to a 65-49 triumph over the Saints on Feb. 13 at Cardinal Gym.

St. James, however, did not fit the stereotypical definition of a No. 7-seeded team, producing five first-half ties before trailing Fairmont by only five at intermission.

Saint forward Scott Mueller swooshed a 15-footer from the baseline to narrow the Cardinals' lead to two during the second half's early stages before Fairmont utilized the 3-point arc to answer the challenge.

Tyler Majeske, who finished with eight points, converted point guard Justin Walters' assists into a trifecta from the top of the key before Heinrich cashed in another Walters' pass for a trey from the left corner.

Trailing 37-29, St. James mentor Steve Walker called timeout at the 14:25 juncture to regroup his cagers.

Charles Kolstad responded out of the short recess with a 10-foot leaner before Shane Leistikow and Brian Christiansen connected on baskets in the lane to narrow the gap to 37-35 with 11:40 remaining in regulation.

Key reserves Will Hawkins and Logan Peymann later contributed clutch baskets for the Cardinals before Jack Schmid converted a low-post feed from Majeske to stake Fairmont to its biggest lead of the game at 47-37 at the 5:15 mark.

But the Saints did not panic when the Cardinals held the basketball and tried to force St. James to match up player-to-player from a defensive perspective.

Point guard Austin Pinke, who topped all scorers with 15 points, hit a pull-up jumper off the run to trigger the Saints' ensuing 9-0 offensive surge.

Leistikow and Christiansen worked a trap near midcourt to force the first of three straight Fairmont turnovers as Leistikow hit the layup and later forced the Cardinals to call timeout at the 4:21 juncture.

Mueller's right baseline jumpshot from 12 feet narrowed St. James' deficit to 47-43 before another Fairmont turnover led to Leistikow's steal and assist to Pinke for a 3-pointer from the left wing.

With only 39.8 seconds remaining, the Saints were forced to foul after the Cardinals ran a mini-delay to erase 25 valuable ticks off of the scoreboard.

Holm then sank consecutive one-and-one situations, with Heinrich's steal being sandwiched between the free throws.

Heinrich scored 13 points to top Fairmont's offense, Holm and Majeske contributed 10 and eight points, respectively, while Walters pulled down a game-best eight rebounds to complement three assists.

Leistikow supplied nine points and four assists to St. James' cause, Christiansen collected eight points and five rebounds, while Pinke added five boards and three steals.