By John RittenhouseThe top-seeded Luverne Cardinals dodged a bullet during the quarterfinal round of the South Section 3AA Boys’ Basketball Tournament Saturday in Luverne.Playing No. 8 Jackson County Central in the tournament opener for both teams, the contest had the look of being a mismatch on paper.The 18-6 Cardinals knocked off the 4-20 Huskies twice during the regular season, including a 13-point win over JCC in Luverne Feb. 23.Although the Cards would be the favorites playing on their home floor, LHS coach Tom Rops was taking nothing for granted. The LHS mentor expected JCC to play like a team with nothing to lose, and that’s exactly what happened during a hard-fought, 46-43 victory for the hosts."We’ll take this win and run with it," said a relieved Rops after Saturday’s contest."JCC is the best eighth seed we’ve seen in the last couple of years, and I knew they wouldn’t be pushovers. They came into the game with a good game plan, and they executed it really well."Luverne never trailed in the game, but the Cards never opened a comfortable lead, either.Derek Boeve, who led the hosts with 15 points, gave the Cards a 5-0 lead by scoring five points in the first 1:54 of the game.Luverne led by six (9-3) when Marc Boelman converted a field goal at the 11:20 mark of the first half, but JCC answered with a 9-4 spurt to trail 13-12 with 6:24 left.The Cards returned the favor by scoring eight unanswered points with Jake Hendricks sinking three free throws with 1:14 remaining to give LHS a 21-12 cushion. JCC countered by trimming the difference to four points (21-17) before Luverne reserve Weston Sawtelle hit a driving shot with five seconds remaining to make it a 23-17 game at the break.It looked like the Cards might put the game away when they opened the second half with a 6-1 surge ending with Nick Heronimus converting a layup at 16:06 to give LHS its biggest lead of the game at 29-18.JCC, however, didn’t lose the faith.The Huskies controlled play in the middle part of the second half, trimming Luverne’s lead to two points (37-35) with 8:08 left to play and down to one point (44-43) with 1:31 remaining.Boeve then capped his 15-point effort with a pair of free throws with 34.4 seconds left to play to give the Cards a 46-43 lead.JCC got the ball back twice in the final 30 seconds, but Heronimus ended one possession with a steal, and an over-and-back violation with 1.2 seconds left sealed JCC’s fate."I give JCC a lot of credit. It wasn’t that we played badly, JCC did a really good job as a team," Rops said."We had good defensive intensity, balanced scoring and had a lot of different guys chip in. We’re going to be in more situations like this one down the line, and hopefully we’ll make the shots when they matter," he concluded.Luverne will be the site of both South Section 3AA semifinals tonight. The Cards play No. 4 Redwood Valley at 6 p.m., with No. 3 Windom and No. 2 Martin County West playing the second game.Box scoreBoelman 4 0 1-5 9, Miller 1 0 0-0 2, Hendricks 2 0 4-5 8, Clark 1 0 0-0 2, Sawtelle 1 0 0-0 2, Boeve 5 0 5-7 15, DeBoer 1 0 0-0 2, Heronimus 3 0 0-0 6.Team statisticsLuverne: 18 of 46 field goals (39 percent), 10 of 17 free throws (58 percent), 23 rebounds,11 turnovers.JCC: 19 of 40 field goals (48 percent), three of five free throws (60 percent, 18 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
