PEMBROKE — A hearty cheer came from a majority of the Fairmont players and coaches as they moseyed their way off the court inside Purnell Swett's gymnasium on Wednesday evening in the first round of the Robeson County Shootout in Pembroke.

The Golden Tornadoes had taken care of business with an anything-but nailbiting 60-44 win over the host Rams, and quickly turned their focus to revenge.

Fairmont (5-4) used a 21-9 rebounding edge in the opening half to key a 15-point halftime advantage, and then used a 17-6 run in the fourth quarter to put the Rams (2-6) away and set up a second-round rematch with South Robeson on Thursday evening in Pembroke.

Purnell Swett will make the short trek eastward today to battle Lumberton. Both games are set for 7:30 tip offs. Fairmont will look to avenge a 70-55 loss to the Mustangs less than a week ago. The Rams/Pirates match-up will mark the first of three scheduled meetings between the two rivals this season.

"It's a rematch, but our focus is on just playing ball," said Fairmont coach Richard Mitchell. "(South Robeson) came out blazing on Friday and made us look pretty bad. I know the kids are looking forward to playing them tomorrow night."

Juwan Addison scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the opening half for the Tornadoes, while backcourt mate Desmond Parker booked eight of his 14 in the second half. Douglas Blue pulled down a game-best 10 rebounds for Fairmont, while Branson Ford scored six points and added eight rebounds for the victors as well.

Purnell Swett, who saw starting guard Victor Dial go down with a broken left wrist just 40 seconds into the contest, got a team-best 14 points from Juwan Jones, who was the only Ram to score in double figures on the night. Chandler Chavis paced the hosts with five rebounds.

Fairmont used high pressure to take over the game immediately, scoring 17 of the game's first 21 points to grab a 13-point lead with 2:37 left in the opening quarter. The Tornadoes, who posted a 12-2 rebounding advantage in the opening period, would score the first 12 points of the second quarter as well, padding its cushion out to 31-11 on an Addision lay-in with 3:01 left until intermission.

Going away from what had keyed the first half onslaught, Fairmont found itself on its heels for much of the third period as the Rams whittled their deficit down to single digits heading into the fourth quarter, but the monster run in the final stanza would be all the visitors would need.

"We relaxed on defense a little bit and they scored some easy baskets (in the third quarter)," Mitchell said. "We hadn't been playing as a team lately and it all came together for us tonight. Everybody came together and got it done."