Luverne guard Dusty Antoine fouls Marshall’s Ben Olsem as the Tiger tries to put up a shot late in Saturday’s Southwest Conference basketball game in Luverne. Antoine scored six points during a 68-48 loss to the Tigers.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys’ basketball team slipped to 10-13 for the season aftergoing 1-2 in games played since last Thursday.The Cardinals posted a 13-point win in Jackson Thursday before Marshall toppled them by 20 points in Luverne Saturday. The Cards fell by 16 points to Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in Tyler Tuesday.Luverne ends the regular season by hosting Lincoln HI Friday.R-T-R 62, Luverne 46The Cardinals turned in a solid performance before falling by 16 points to the Knights in Tyler Tuesday.Luverne played with the hosts for the better part of three quarters, but R-T-R outscored the Cards 22-10 in the game’s final nine minutes to win handily."We played a pretty good game even though the score doesn’t indicate it," said LHS coach Tom Rops. "We had to scramble in the fourth quarter, and they hit their free throws."R-T-R, which led 22-20 at halftime, sported a 40-36 cushion before scoring a pair of easy field goals in the final minute of the third quarter to take a 44-36 advantage into the fourth quarter.The Knights drained eight of 10 free throws during the final period to help outscore LHS 18-10 and win by 16.Luverne, which led 13-8 after eight minutes of play, received 11 points from Nick Heronimus. Jared Pick snared seven rebounds and distributed four assists. Andy Stegemann added four assists.Box scorePick 2 0 5-9 9, Tofteland 1 0 0-0 2, Herman 2 0 0-0 4, Deragisch 3 1 0-0 9, Stegemann 2 1 0-0 7, S.Boelman 1 0 0-0 2, Heronimus 1 2 3-5 11, Lange 1 0 0-0 2.Team statisticsLuverne: 17 of 38 field goals (45 percent), eight of 14 free throws (57 percent), 21 rebounds, 11 turnovers.R-T-R: 21 of 44 field goals (48 percent), 15 of 19 free throws (79 percent), 15 rebounds, 12 turnovers.Marshall 68,Luverne 48The visiting Tigers took control of the game early and never let the Cardinals back in the contest during Saturday’s SWC clash in Luverne.Marshall raced to a 26-8 lead in the first quarter and never looked back while disposing of LHS by 20 points.The game was tied at two when Marshall took the lead for keeps at 8-2 at the end of a 6-0 surge during the first quarter.Luverne’s John Tofteland converted a three-point play to make it a 8-5 game moments later, but the Tigers outscored the Cards 16-3 the rest of the period to open a 26-8 lead.The Cardinals outscored Marshall 12-6 in the first 4:49 of the second period and trailed 32-20 when Brad Herman drained a pair of free throws at the 3:11 mark of the stanza.Marshall, however, ended the first half with a 7-0 run to lead 39-20 at the intermission.Luverne trimmed the difference to 17 points twice early in the third quarter before falling behind by 34 points (62-28) by period’s end. The Cardinals outscored Marshall 20-6 in the fourth quarter to make it a 20-point difference in the end.Pick, who charted two assists along with Dusty Antoine, led the Cards in scoring with eight points. Herman grabbed five rebounds. Tofteland and Heronimus recorded two steals each.Box scorePick 2 0 4-6 8, Tofteland 2 0 1-1 5, Graphenteen 0 0 0-0 0, Herman 0 0 2-2 2, Deragisch 0 1 0-1 3, Hendricks 1 1 0-0 5, Antoine 0 2 0-1 6, Stegemann 0 1 0-0 3, Willers 2 0 0-1 4, S.Boelman 1 0 3-4 5, M.Boelman 0 0 0-1 0, Heronimus 1 0 5-7 7, Lange 0 0 0-0 0.Team statisticsLuverne: 14 of 43 field goals (33 percent), 15 of 24 free throws (63 percent), 28 rebounds, 24 turnovers.Marshall: 23 of 47 field goals (49 percent), 13 of 25 free throws (32 percent), 17 rebounds, six turnovers.Luverne 51, JCC 38The Cardinals swept their annual season series with the Huskies by securing a 13-point win in Jackson Thursday.Luverne outscored JCC in every quarter of the game, and the key to success was taking care of the basketball."We did a nice job of not turning the ball over," said LHS coach Rops, who revealed that the Cards had five turnovers in the contest. "Whenever you protect the ball, you have a better chance of winning the game."Luverne led 16-14 after eight minutes of play and extended the difference to seven points (28-21) after outscoring the Huskies 12-7 in the second period.The Cardinals outscored JCC by three points in each of the final two periods, making it a 13-point difference in the end."Any time you can win on the road is a good victory," Rops added.Pick led the Cards in scoring with 14 points. Scott Boelman netted 13 points and tied Heronimus for the team lead in rebounding with five. Brandon Deragisch contributed seven assists and three steals to the winning effort.Box scorePick 4 0 6-8 14, Herman 1 0 0-0 2, Stegemann 1 0 0-0 2, S.Boelman 6 0 1-2 13, Heronimus 3 0 3-8 9, Lange 2 0 0-0 4, Tofteland 0 2 0-0 6, Deragisch 0 0 0-2 0, M.Boelman 0 0 1-2 1.Team statisticsLuverne: 19 of 47 field goals (40 percent), 10 of 20 free throws (50 percent), 27 rebounds, five turnovers.JCC: 12 of 41 field goals (29 percent), 10 of 14 free throws (71 percent), 23 rebounds, eight turnovers.
