By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne boys' basketball team was able to build some momentum heading into post-season play after winning a home game Friday.
Hosting Lincoln HI in the regular-season finale, the Cardinals turned in one of their best offensive performances of the season while posting a 73-63 victory over the Rebels.
Luverne canned 49 percent of its shots in the game and outscored LH in each of the first three quarters.
LH did sport a 25-19 scoring cushion in the fourth quarter, but the Rebels never seriously challenged the Cardinals.
"This was by far our best offensive night of the year," said Cardinal coach Tom Rops. "We had three kids score in double figures, and two more who had eight points each. It was nice to see kids shoot the ball with confidence and get a win."
Luverne, 3-19 overall, will need to play with confidence when it challenges Southwest Conference champion Worthington in the quarterfinal round of the South Section 3A Tournament at Southwest State University in Marshall Saturday.
The seventh-seeded Cards face the No. 2 Trojans in the last of four games scheduled for the final round. Game time is approximately 8 p.m.
Luverne played its way to a 16-13 lead in the first eight minutes of play against the Rebels Friday. Then, Jake Studer, who scored 13 points and recorded four assists for the winners, led the Cards to a 19-15 scoring cushion in the second quarter that gave them a 35-28 halftime lead by netting six points in the period.
Jesse Kuhlman, who made six three-point shots in the game and led LHS in scoring with 21 points, struck for nine points when the Cards outscored the Rebels 19-10 in the third period to make it a 54-38 game.
Luverne led by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter before winning by 10 in the end.
Aaron Schmidt played a strong game by scoring 11 points and nabbing eight rebounds for the winners.
Box score
Norton 3 0 2-4 8, Pick 2 0 4-7 8, Studer 2 2 3-5 13, Kuhlman 1 6 1-2 21, Schmidt 5 0, 1-2 11, DeWispelaere 1 0 2-2 4, Lange 3 0 0-0 6, Goembel 0 0 2-4 2.
Team statistics
Luverne: 23 of 47 field goals (49 percent), 15 of 26 free throws (58 percent), 29 rebounds, 16 turnovers.
LH: 26 of 61 field goals (43 percent), six of 16 free throws (38 percent), 31 rebounds.