By John RittenhouseThe Luverne basketball team went 1-2 in games staged since Friday.The Cardinals received Southwest Conference setbacks in road games played against Windom and Marshall on Friday and Tuesday. Luverne notched a 13-point home win over South Dakota school, West Central, Saturday.Luverne, 13-8 overall, wraps up league play with a game in Jackson tonight.Marshall 63,Luverne 48The Tigers swept their annual season series with the Cardinals when they bested LHS by 15 points in Marshall Tuesday.Luverne played well enough to remain in contact with the Tigers most of the night, but it wasn’t enough to produce a win."Marshall is the best team in the conference," said Cardinal coach Tom Rops. "We played a lot of zone defense to try and control the tempo of the game, but they hit their threes and got the big rebounds when they needed them."Marshall outscored the Cards in both quarters of the first half to open a 29-20 lead at the intermission. Luverne was unable to cut into Marshall’s advantage in the second half."I thought we did play them better than we did the first time around. I was pleased with the improvement we showed," Rops added.Brad Herman and Jared Pick scored 14 and 11 points respectively for LHS. Brandon Deragisch led the Cards with six rebounds.Box scorePick 1 3 0-1 11, Herman 5 0 4-6 14, Deragisch 3 1 0-0 9, Tofteland 2 0 0-0 4, Heronimus 1 0 0-0 2, Antoine 0 2 2-2 8, Haakenson 0 1 0-0 3, Hendricks 0 0 2-3 2.Team statisticsLuverne: 19 of 44 field goals (43 percent), eight of 12 free throws (67 percent), 28 rebounds, nine turnovers.Marshall: 22 of 55 field goals (40 percent), 12 of 17 free throws (70 percent), 23 rebounds, nine turnovers.Luverne 68, WC 55The Cardinals overcame a 12-point deficit in the first half to notch a 13-point home win over West Central Saturday.Trailing 27-15 early in the second quarter, Luverne rallied to knot the score at 27 when Deragisch converted a field goal with 1:27 remaining in the first half.The score was tied at 29 when the Cards opened the second half with an 11-0 run capped by a three-point shot from Dusty Antoine that gave the hosts a 40-29 cushion.WC trimmed the difference to three points moments later (43-40), but the Cards responded by putting together a 9-2 run capped by Pick’s three-point play that gave LHS a 52-42 lead it would take in tow the fourth quarter.Luverne led by 15 points (61-46) when John Tofteland drained a free throw at the 5:20 mark of the fourth quarter. WC closed the margin to nine points in the final five minutes of play, but the Cards pulled away to win by 13 at game’s end.Deragisch scored 15 points and snared 11 rebounds for the Cards. Tofteland added 15 points and recorded six steals. Pick and Herman netted 15 and 11 points respectively.Box scorePick 3 0 9-14 15, Herman 5 0 1-4 11, Deragisch 4 1 4-10 15, Hendricks 1 0 0-0 2, Antoine 3 0 2-3 8, Tofteland 1 4 1-2 15, Heronimus 0 0 2-2 2.Team statisticsLuverne: 22 of 50 field goals (44 percent), 19 of 35 free throws (54 percent), 30 rebounds, nine turnovers.WC: 21 of 47 field goals (45 percent), eight of 14 free throws (57 percent), 33 rebounds, 17 turnovers.Windom 47,Luverne 42The Eagles came out on the winning end of a hard-fought, five-point decision against the Cardinals in Windom Friday.The game was tightly contested the entire night as the Eagles sported 18-15, 28-25 and 38-36 edges at the first three quarter breaks before winning by five points at game’s end."We tied the game twice in the fourth quarter," said Cardinal coach Rops. "Costly turnovers and poor shooting on the road hurt us in this game."Tofteland and Deragisch led the Cardinals offensively by scoring 14 and 12 points respectively. Nick Heronimus pulled down seven rebounds, Pick drew two charging fouls and Herman blocked two shots for LHS.Box scorePick 0 0 0-0 0, Herman 0 0 3-7 3, Deragisch 6 0 0-2 12, Hendricks 1 1 0-0 5, Antoine 1 0 0-0 2, Tofteland 4 2 0-1 14, Heronimus 1 0 4-4 6.Team statisticsLuverne: 16 of 49 field goals (33 percent), seven of 14 free throws (50 percent), 28 rebounds, 20 turnovers.Windom: 14 of 41 field goals (34 percent), 13 of 16 free throws (81 percent), 20 rebounds, 19 turnovers.
