Luverne freshman Marc Boelman (45) corrals a rebound during Saturday’s Section 3AA basketball game against Murray County Central in Luverne. The Cardinals outrebounded the Rebels 44-19 during a 69-37 victory. Other Cardinals pictured are Jake Hendricks (20) and Jerome Willers (33).By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys’ basketball team posted its first postseason victory in seven years when the Cardinals entertained Murray County Central for a quarterfinal-round game of the South Section 3AA Tournament Saturday in Luverne.Luverne, the tournament’s fourth-seeded team, drained 55 percent of its field goals and dominated the glass with a 44-19 rebounding advantage while coasting to a 69-37 win over the fifth-seeded Rebels.The win was Luverne’s first tournament victory since it beat Tracy-Milroy in the first round of the Section 3AA Tournament in March of 1997.The 11-14 Cardinals will face a tough test at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Redwood Falls, where they take on No. 1 seed Redwood Valley. RWV beat the Cardinals twice in Southwest Conference play this season.Luverne will need to play like it did in the second half against MCC in order to compete with Redwood Valley in the semifinals tonight.The Cardinals turned what was a competitive game into a rout by outscoring the Rebels 40-15 in the second and third quarters.Luverne led by seven points (29-22) at the intermission and extended the difference to eight points twice in the early stages of the third quarter. The Cardinals then put together a 15-8 run that ended with a field goal by Brandon Deragisch with 19 seconds left in the period to open a 15-point lead (47-32).The difference remained at 15 points (49-34) heading into the fourth quarter when the Cardinals iced the win by outscoring MCC 20-3.Luverne opened the quarter by scoring the first 11 points and led 60-34 when Dusty Antoine drained a free throw with 2:48 left to play. Luverne’s reserves outscored the Rebels 9-3 the rest of the way to make it a 32-point difference at game’s end.The game was very competitive in the first half.Luverne took a 6-0 lead in the first 40 seconds behind three-point shots made by John Tofteland and Deragisch.The Rebels trimmed the difference to one point at two different times before the quarter ended with LHS sporting a 13-11 edge.Luverne led by six points (17-11) when Jared Pick converted a field goal at the 5:44 mark of the second period, but the Rebels countered with an 11-5 spurt to knot the score at 22 with 2:05 left in the stanza.Deragisch hit a three-point shot and Andy Stegemann scored four points in the final 53 seconds of the first half during a 7-0 run that gave the Cards a 29-22 halftime advantage.Deragisch, who pulled down eight rebounds in the contest, poured in 20 points to lead the Cardinals in scoring. Scott Boelman pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Nick Heronimus led LHS with four assists and three steals. Pick added 10 points to the winning cause.Box scorePick 4 0 2-4 10, Tofteland 0 1 0-0 3, Graphenteen 1 0 0-0 2, Herman 1 0 1-2 3, Deragisch 4 3 3-3 20, Hendricks 0 0 3-4 3, Antoine 1 0 1-2 3, Stegemann 2 0 4-4 8, Willers 0 0 0-0 0, S.Boelman 3 0 1-4 7, M.Boelman 0 0 0-0 0, Heronimus 1 0 2-2 4, Lange 1 0 0-2 4, DeBoer 1 0 0-0 2, Ward 1 0 0-0 2.Team statisticsLuverne: 24 of 44 field goals (55 percent), 17 of 27 free throws (63 percent), 44 rebounds, 11 turnovers.MCC: 15 of 55 field goals (27 percent), five of 17 free throws (29 percent), 19 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
