Fairmont’s dynamic duo of bigs in Oliver Tordsen and Logan Junkermeier were a significant factor in the boys basketball team’s dominant performance in the paint this season on both ends of the court.

The two post threats’ combined efforts also saw them finish their year as the 2024-2025 All-Sentinel Boys Basketball Co-Players of the Year.

The size of the roster was a key factor in many of the team’s wins. With Tordsen standing 6-foot-8 and Junkermeier at 6-9, the two found success in shutting down the passing lanes and cleaning up on the boards.

Tordsen, the team’s senior center, averaged 15.1 points, nine rebounds, three assists, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. At the same time, junior forward Junkermeier averaged 16 points, nine rebounds, 1.7 assists, one steal and 1.5 blocks per game.

ABOVE: Fairmont’s Oliver Tordsen looks to score in the paint during a game against the Blue Earth area Buccaneers earlier in the season in Fairmont.

“I think playing together last year quite a bit helped,” said Fairmont head coach Jared Thompson. “In the summer, they spent a lot of time playing together. It didn’t take them long to find good chemistry together. If you look at the amount of assists they had to each other, I think that kind of is your proof in their chemistry, because they looked for each other and found each other. They really played well together, just because they have, even though they’re

Both big guys have compatible skill sets and complement each other very well.”

Both players were captains for the Cardinals this year, but even though they stand nearly 7 feet tall, their approach to the game varies.

“Just the physicality of Oliver and his explosiveness as an athlete inside, and then when you have Logan, who has some perimeter skills, they just really worked well together that way,” said Thompson. “Logan is kind of an inside-outside guy, whereas Oliver is just that dominating physical presence inside. I would say that’s how they compliment each other.”

Junkermeier and Tordsen played a lot together over the summer, building on their chemistry that carried over into the season.

“My sophomore year actually was when me and him kind of first started playing together and it was kind of rough then,” said Junkermeier. “But then throughout the summer, me and him played really well together. It was really nice that it just transferred right over to the season in the high-low. No team could stop it, and it was just super fun to play with him.”

Junkermeier continued to work to develop his skill set this past offseason, and he plans to continue building on his success this season by focusing on court awareness and ball handling.

“I know throughout the summer I worked a lot on a lot of shooting,” said Junkermeier. “That was one of my main things, even though I didn’t shoot very often in-game, like 3-pointers. But I did also work a lot on post moves. I played a lot of AAU to kind of play against some different kind of players instead of just the regular guys around here. On the season, I thought I just did my thing down low and when I wasn’t there, I knew Oliver was.”

Tordsen fondly looks back on his senior season despite exiting the playoffs earlier than desired.

“I think we played awesome as a team in general,” said Tordsen. “We had moments in a lot of different games where we really shined and, you know, we all moved the ball well, played together. So overall, I think it was a great season.”

Tordsen also thinks the tandem is one of the strongest in the conference.

“We played together a season before this, too,” said Tordsen. “I think that really helped and it really flowed together nice into this season when there’s another big guy there, it’s like harder to guard two big guys, right? So the other team has a big guy, they can really only guard one of us.”

This season was a solid development year for Tordsen. He said it was a great year for his confidence, but December’s Bethany Tournament in Mankato stands out to him.

“I liked winning the Bethany Tournament,” said Tordsen. “I think those three games are probably our best of the whole year. Just that whole tournament was very good.”

Junkermeier will continue to work on his skills this offseason before his senior year of basketball next season, while Tordsen shifts his focus to his final prep year of track and field.