Luverne senior Andy Stegemann (30) establishes his defensive position to stop a drive to the basket by a Worthington player. By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys rallied from a 16-point deficit in the first half to post a 55-52 Southwest Conference victory over Worthington in Luverne Friday.Luverne, which had not beaten WHS since 1997, appeared to be in trouble when it fell behind by 16 points twice early in the second quarter.The Cards, however, bounced back to outscore the Trojans 32-17 in the second half to pull out a three-point victory.According to Cardinal coach Tom Rops, Luverne’s second-half success was a product of sticking with the team’s game plan."I just told the kids to continue pressuring them at halftime. They are missing two starters due to injury, and we wanted to full-court pressure them the whole game," he said. "They are a little thin on players after their starting five, so we went into the game thinking depth would be in our favor."Still, Luverne had to overcome some tense situations early and late in the game to beat the Trojans.The Cards led 3-2 early in the first quarter before WHS went on an 11-0 run to take a 13-3 lead. Worthington led by as many as 14 points (21-7) as the first period progressed, but Luverne’s Nick Heronimus hit a field goal with four seconds left in the quarter to make it a 21-9 game.Worthington remained in control of the game in the second quarter, padding its lead to 16 points (34-18) during the course of the period. Luverne used a 5-1 surge capped by a three-point shot by Heronimus late in the half to trail by 12 points (35-23) at the intermission.The Cardinals began their comeback in the third period, when Heronimus capped a 15-7 run with a three-point shot at the 1:04 mark of the period to trim Worthington’s lead to five points at 43-38. The Trojans scored the final two points of the period to make it a 45-38 difference at period’s end.Luverne opened the fourth quarter with a 16-0 run that ended with Brad Herman draining a field goal with 3:56 left to play to give the Cardinals a 54-45 lead.The Cards missed 11 of 12 free throws in the final four minutes of the game, opening the door for a 9-0 surge by Worthington that closed the gap to two points (54-52). Luverne’s Scott Boelman hit one free throw with 43.8 seconds remaining to make it 55-52, and neither team scored after that.Heronimus scored 16 points to lead the Cards. Jared Pick led LHS with six rebounds and three steals. John Tofteland passed for six assists.Box scorePick 2 0 0-1 4, Tofteland 1 0 3-5 5, Herman 3 0 0-2 6, Deragisch 1 1 0-2 5, Stegemann 4 0 0-2 8, S.Boelman 3 0 1-2 7, Heronimus 1 4 2-3 16, Lange 2 0 0-0 4.Team statisticsLuverne: 22 of 42 field goals (52 percent), six of 17 free throws (35 percent), 22 rebounds, 10 turnovers.Worthington: 21 of 41 field goals (51 percent), eight of 14 free throws (57 percent), 19 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
