Luverne junior guard John Tofteland rips down a rebound during the opening round of the Luverne Boys' Basketball Classic Monday in Luverne.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys’ basketball team advanced to the championship game of the Luverne Holiday Classic Tournament Monday night.The Cardinals took on Westbrook-Walnut Grove for the right to play Lake Benton in Tuesday’s title tilt in the Luverne Elementary School.After falling behind by two points in the first quarter, the Cards went on to outscore the Chargers 47-18 the rest of the night to secure a 58-31 victory.The win was Luverne’s third straight and it upped the Cardinals’ record to 3-3 heading into the championship game with Lake Benton. This will be the second straight year Luverne played in the championship game of its own tournament.After W-WG scored the game’s first four points, Luverne gained its first lead at 5-4 when Brandon Deragisch converted a field goal at the 5:36 mark of the first quarter.The score was tied at nine when Luverne’s Nick Heronimus sank a pair of free throws with 3:39 remaining in the stanza, but W-WG sported a 4-2 scoring edge the rest of the quarter to lead 13-11 at period’s end.Scott Boelman connected for a pair of field goals to give the Cards a 17-15 lead that swelled to five points (24-19) when Andy Stegemann connected for a field goal with 2:11 remaining in the first half.The teams exchanged two points during the final two minutes of the period, leaving Luverne with a 26-21 halftime advantage.A field goal by Boelman at the 4:20 mark of the third quarter capped a 5-0 run that gave LHS a 31-21 cushion.W-WG pulled within eight points (31-23) when Luverne embarked on an 11-1 run capped by a field goal from Josh Lange with 22 seconds remaining to give the Cardinals a 42-24 lead at the end of three periods.Luverne led by as many as 29 points during a fourth quarter in which it outscored W-WG 16-7 to prevail by 27 points.Deragisch scored 11 points to lead the Cards in scoring during the contest.John Tofteland and Brad Herman nabbed seven and six rebounds respectively. Jared Pick recorded five assists and three steals.The Cardinals are scheduled to host Jackson County Central Saturday and Blue Earth Tuesday.Box scorePick 2 0 2-3 6, Tofteland 2 0 1-2 5, Graphenteen 0 0 0-0 0, Herman 2 0 0-0 4, Deragisch 5 0 1-2 11, Hendricks 0 0 0-0 0, Antoine 0 1 1-2 4, Stegemann 2 0 1-2 5, Willers 0 0 2-2 2, S.Boelman 4 0 0-0 8, M.Boelman 1 0 0-0 2, Heronimus 0 0 2-2 2, Lange 4 0 1-1 9.Team statisticsLuverne: 23 of 63 field goals (37 percent), 11 of 16 free throws (69 percent), 32 rebounds, seven turnovers.W-WG: 11 of 35 field goals (31 percent), six of 22 free throws (27 percent), 25 rebounds, 16 turnovers.
