Luverne junior post Josh Lange goes through his pre-shot routine at the charity stripe during Friday’s Cardinal Holiday Classic game against Lakeview in Luverne. Lange scored 15 points to lead the Cardinals to their first victory of the season against the Lakers. The Cards fell to Canby in the championship game Saturday. Photo by Lori Ehde.
By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne boys’ basketball team split games to place second during the annual Cardinal Holiday Classic staged Friday and Saturday.
The Cardinals opened the tournament by beating Lakeview by 12 points Friday before falling by 12 points to Canby in Saturday’s championship game.
Luverne, 1-6 overall, hosts Redwood Valley Friday and Windom Tuesday.
Canby 49, Luverne 37
The Cardinals made a bid to win the tournament championship before succumbing to a late surge by the Lancers Saturday.
Trailing 29-23 entering the fourth quarter of play, Luverne gained a one-point advantage when Andy Stegemann drained a three-point shot with four minutes remaining in the game.
Canby, however, met the challenge by outscoring the Cards by 13 points the rest of the way to win by 12.
"They were able to wear us down with their athleticism," said Cardinal coach Tom Rops. "They were a big team, and they got some buckets inside late in the game. We had to foul them in the end, and they made five of six free throws."
Luverne was able to stay with the Lancers most of the game before Canby pulled away late in the fourth quarter.
The Cards played their way to an 8-7 edge in the first quarter before Canby countered with a 14-7 scoring advantage in the second quarter to gain a 21-15 halftime lead.
The Lancers maintained their six-point lead (29-23) in the third quarter before outscoring LHS 20-14 in the final eight minutes of play.
Josh Lange led a Luverne team that remained in the game by playing good defense with 13 points.
"We played a zone defense, and we played it very well. We just didn’t get enough of our shots to drop to get a win," Rops said.
Box score
Studer 2 0 0-0 4, Pick 1 1 2-4 8, Kuhlman 1 2 1-2 9, Lange 6 0 1-3 13, Stegemann 0 1 0-0 3.
Team statistics
Luverne: 17 of 60 field goals (28 percent), four of nine free throws (44 percent), 19 rebounds, 11 turnovers.
Canby: 19 of 46 field goals (41 percent), five of eight free throws (63 percent), 28 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
Luverne 59,
Lakeview 47
The Cardinals posted their first win of the season when they disposed of the Lakers by 12 points during the tournament’s first round Friday.
After battling Lakeview to a draw at seven in the first quarter, Luverne outscored the Lakers in each of the final three periods while snapping a five-game losing streak to open the campaign.
"We hung in there with them very well," Rops said. "We rebounded really well in this game, and we finally started getting some offensive rebounds."
Luverne moved in front to stay by outscoring the Lakers 15-9 to take a 22-16 lead at the intermission.
With Jake Studer and Jesse Kuhlman leading the way, Luverne was able to pad its lead in the second half.
Studer scored all 11 of his points in the final two periods. Kuhlman scored seven of his nine points in the fourth quarter.
Luverne led by nine points (38-29) after outscoring Lakeview 16-13 in the third period.
The Lakers did climb to within five points of the Cards with 2:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, but LHS met the challenge by outscoring Lakeview by seven points the rest of the way.
"We kept our composure when things were not going well in the fourth quarter and hung on to win the game. A lot of kids contributed to this win with eight guys scoring in the game," Rops added.
Lange led the charge for LHS by scoring 15 points and collecting six rebounds. Kuhlman had two steals.
Box score
Studer 1 2 3-4 11, Kuhlman 1 1 4-4 9, Schmidt 1 0 3-3 5, DeGroot 1 0 0-0 2, Boelman 4 0 0-0 8, Lange 7 0 1-2 15, Pick 0 1 3-4 6, Stegemann 0 1 0-0 3.
Team statistics
Luverne: 20 of 49 field goals (41 percent), 14 of 17 free throws (82 percent), 30 rebounds, 14 turnovers.
Lakeview: 17 of 43 field goals (40 percent), eight of 14 free throws (57 percent), 18 rebounds, 15 turnovers.