Luverne senior guard Jesse Kuhlman drives past a Russell-Tyler-Ruthton player during the first quarter of Tuesday’s boys’ basketball game in Luverne. Kuhlman scored 17 points before breaking his left arm at 4:23 mark of the second quarter. Luverne went on to beat the Knights 57-52.
By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne boys’ basketball team experienced its most successful week of the 2002-03 season by winning two of three games in a six-day span.
The Cardinals beat Jackson County Central by 19 points at home Thursday before ending a 2-10 Southwest Conference campaign with a 22-point loss in Marshall Saturday. Luverne returned home Tuesday and upended Russell-Tyler-Ruthton by five points.
Luverne, 4-16 overall, ends the regular season in Ivanhoe Friday.
Luverne 57, R-T-R 52
The Cardinals overcame adversity to best the Knights by five points in Luverne Tuesday.
After watching senior guard Jesse Kuhlman get carted off the floor by a Luverne ambulance crew after sustaining a broken arm in the second quarter, no one would have blamed the remaining Cardinals if they would have packed it in for the rest of the night.
Instead, the Cardinals played some of their most inspiring basketball of the season while crowing the visiting Knights.
Trailing 13-12 entering the second quarter, Luverne took a 21-20 lead when Kuhlman converted a field goal near the five-minute mark of the period to account for his 16th and 17th points of the game.
Kuhlman came up with a steal moments later, and was fouled from behind while shooting a lay up. The force of the foul caused Kuhlman to miss the shot, and the blow sent Luverne’s leading scorer into the padded wall under the basket. Kuhlman broke his left arm on impact with the wall, ending his senior basketball season at the same time.
After nearly a 20-minute delay, play resumed in a somber way. Jake Studer, a senior guard who sustained a broken arm while pitching a baseball game a few years ago, was clearly shaken by the incident involving his friend when he shot the two foul shots for Kuhlman.
Fighting back tears, Studer made one of two free throws to ignite an 8-3 run capped by a Josh Lange field goal at the final buzzer to give the Cards a 30-23 halftime advantage.
Luverne kept the pressure on R-T-R by going on a 7-2 run in the first four minutes of the third quarter to gain their biggest lead of the game at 37-25. Studer, who scored 10 points for the Cards, hit a shot at the buzzer to give LHS a 42-29 cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals continued to play well in the early stages of the fourth quarter as they increased the difference to 16 points (48-32), but the Knights countered with a 20-6 run capped by a three-point shot with 19.2 seconds left to trim the difference to two points at 54-52.
Luverne senior guard Joey Pick put the game on ice by sinking three of four free throws in the final 17 seconds.
Lange scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds for the winners. Aaron Schmidt led the Cards with eight rebounds.
Box score
Studer 3 1 1-2 10, Pick 0 0 3-5 3, Kuhlman 4 3 0-0 17, Schmidt 0 0 0-2 0, DeGroot 0 0 0-0 0, Boelman 3 0 0-0 6, Heronimus 2 0 2-2 6, Lange 7 0 1-2 15.
Team statistics
Luverne 23 of 52 field goals (44 percent), seven of 16 free throws (44 percent), 25 rebounds, nine turnovers.
R-T-R: 21 of 42 field goals (50 percent), four of four free throws (100 percent), 18 rebounds, 14 turnovers.
Marshall 71,
Luverne 49
A strong second half by the Tigers kept the Cardinals from posting back-to-back wins Saturday in Marshall.
Luverne played with the Tigers in the first two quarters, but Marshall outscored the Cards 49-32 in the second half to win by 22 points.
"Their pressure took its toll on us," said Cardinal coach Tom Rops. "They kept pressure on us for four quarters and were able to pull away from us in the end."
With Jesse Kuhlman netting eight of his team-high 20 points in the first half, Luverne stunned MHS by taking an 11-9 lead in the first period.
Marshall moved in front 22-17 at halftime before using a 22-14 scoring cushion in the third quarter to open a 44-31 advantage. The Tigers canned 12 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter, when they outscored the Cards 27-18 to win by 22.
Nick Heronimus added 10 points to Luverne’s cause. Aaron Schmidt pulled down eight rebounds. Kuhlman recorded three steals.
Box score
Studer 1 0 3-5 5, Pick 1 0 0-2 2, Kuhlman 1 6 0-0 20, Schmidt 1 0 4-6 6, Stegemann 1 0 0-3 2, Boelman 2 0 0-0 4, Heronimus 3 1 1-2 10.
Team statistics
Luverne: 17 of 53 field goals (32 percent), eight of 18 free throws (44 percent), 20 rebounds, 16 turnovers.
Marshall: 26 of 59 field goals (44 percent), 16 of 22 free throws (73 percent), 29 rebounds, nine turnovers.
Luverne 53, JCC 34
The Cardinals snapped an eight-game losing skid by coasting to a 19-point home win over the Huskies Thursday.
Luverne, which won its second conference game of the season, scored more than one-half of its points with three-point shots.
The Cards canned nine of 19 three-pointers (47 percent), which accounts for 27 of the team’s 54 points.
With Andy Stegemann scoring seven of his team-high 10 points and Kuhlman adding six of his nine counters in the first quarter, Luverne opened a 14-point lead (19-5) that was never seriously threatened the rest of the night.
The Cards extended the difference to 17 points (30-13) with an 11-8 scoring edge in the second quarter, and they remained in front by 17 (42-25) after battling JCC to a draw at 12 in the third quarter.
Luverne’s 11-9 scoring edge in the fourth quarter made the difference 19 points at game’s end.
Schmidt contributed six rebounds and four steals to the winning cause.
Box score
Studer 3 1 0-1 9, Pick 1 2 0-0 8, Kuhlman 0 3 0-0 9, Roemen 0 1 0-0 3, Deragisch 0 0 0-0 0, Goembel 1 0 0-0 2, Schmidt 0 0 4-8 4, Stegemann 2 2 0-0 10, Boelman 3 0 0-0 6, Heronimus 1 0 0-0 2.
Team statistics
Luverne: 20 of 55 field goals (36 percent), four of nine free throws (44 percent), 25 rebounds.
JCC: 12 of 40 field goals (30 percent), seven of 12 free throws (58 percent), 28 rebounds.
