ABOVE: Fairmont's Trevor Maakestad looks for an open teammate as three Jackson County Central defenders close the distance to the ball in a Big South Conference boys basketball game Friday night in Fairmont.

FAIRMONT — The Fairmont Cardinals boys basketball team fell to a second-half rally by the Jackson County Central Huskies 52-49 Friday night in Big South Conference boys basketball game.

The Huskies entered Friday night’s game with the Cardinals with a 6-1 record and ranked fifth in the state in Class AA.

“Number one, when you play really good basketball teams, it gives you kind of a list of

things that you don’t need to work on,” said Fairmont boys head coach Jared Thompson. “It also shows you where your strengths are and how close you are to being right there with the number five team in the state undefeated and we’re not very far away.

“It did expose the things that we do need to work on, so we appreciate that and I can’t wait to get back in the gym and work on those things. We said the game really would probably come down to who rebounded better and who took care of the ball and I think they beat us by one rebound and one turnover. In a close game like that, that was kind of the two factors that we had talked about before the game. And then they made a nice comeback, but then us getting down 12 and coming all the way back to down 2, couldn’t be more proud of our guys.”

Leading the Cardinals (3-3) was Oliver Tordsen with 16 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, while Hadan Toomer had 8 points, two rebounds and three steals. Logan Junkermeier had 7 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks, while Joe Long and Nolan Schultze each had 6 points.

The first half opened with the Cardinals scoring quickly with two buckets from Tordsen while keeping the Huskies off the board for the first three minutes. The scoring slowed and the Huskies (7-1) took their first timeout of the night with 10:12 left in half with the Cardinals leading 8-7. Coming out of the huddle, Schultze drew a foul and drained both free throws. The Huskies’ Weston Rowe drained back-to-back buckets, tying things up at 11-11. Tordsen started a 7-0 Cardinal run, extending the lead to 18-11. In the final moments of the frame, JCC hit three at the buzzer cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 5 points 26-21 heading into the half.

The beginning of the Huskies’ rally started early in the second when they were able to get within 2 points of the Cardinals 33-31. With 10 minutes on the clock, the Huskies tied the game up at 35-35 which would set up an 11-0 run taking the lead 47-35.

With six minutes remaining, Junkermeier would start a 7-0 run cutting into the Huskies’ lead bringing the score to 47-43. In the final two minutes, the Cardinals would continue to battle back but the full-court press of the Huskies kept Fairmont at bay when Toomer fired a half-court shot at the buzzer ending the game 52-49.

The Cardinals will take on St. Clair in a tournament at Bethany Lutheran College at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.