By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys’ basketball team recorded back-to-back home wins to wrap up the pre-Christmas portion of the season schedule.The Cardinals beat Edgerton by 10 points Thursday before rolling to a 19-point win over Murray County Central Monday.Luverne, 2-3 overall, hosts Westbrook-Walnut Grove at 6:15 Monday in the elementary school gym.Luverne 68, MCC 49The Cardinals canned 55 percent of their field goals while downing the Rebels in Luverne Monday.LHS made 24 of 44 shots from the field and that led the Cards to their second consecutive victory.The teams battled to a draw at four early in the first quarter before Luverne went on a 6-0 surge capped by a field goal from Brandon Deragisch to open a 10-4 lead.Luverne led by seven (15-8) when Nick Heronimus hit a three-point shot at the 2:18 mark of the opening period, but MCC ended the quarter with a 6-1 run to trail 16-14 at period’s end.Luverne scored the first five points of the second quarter and led by eight (24-16) when Heronimus recorded a three-point play at the 6:01 mark of the stanza.MCC, however, reeled off the next eight points to trail 26-24 before Luverne ended the first half with a 15-0 run capped by Dusty Antoine’s field goal with four seconds remaining to take a 41-24 halftime advantage.Luverne led by as many as 19 points in the third quarter before MCC rallied to trim the difference to 11 points at 47-36. The Cards increased their lead to 13 points (51-38) by the end of the quarter.MCC climbed to within 11 points of Luverne two times in the early stages of the fourth quarter, but the Cards outscored the Rebels 17-11 in the stanza to win by 19.Brad Herman netted 14 points to lead the winners. Deragisch scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and charted four assists. Heronimus added 10 points and six rebounds to the cause. Jared Pick chipped in four assists.Box scorePick 2 0 3-7 7, Tofteland 3 0 1-2 7, Graphenteen 0 0 0-0 0, Herman 6 0 2-4 14, Deragisch 2 0 6-7 10, Hendricks 0 0 0-0 0, Antoine 1 1 0-0 5, Stegemann 3 0 0-0 6, Willers 0 0 0-0 0, S.Boelman 0 0 0-2 0, Heronimus 2 1 3-6 10, Lange 2 0 3-4 7.Team statisticsLuverne: 24 of 44 field goals (55 percent), 18 of 32 free throws (56 percent), 29 rebounds, 24 turnovers.MCC: 17 of 42 field goals (40 percent), 15 of 21 free throws (71 percent), 20 rebounds, 15 turnovers.Luverne 57,Edgerton 47The Cardinals picked up their first win of the season when they notched a 10-point home win over the Flying Dutchmen Thursday.Aggressive play throughout the game, especially in the second half, helped the Cardinals snap a three-game losing streak."I thought we played with more intensity than we had in our previous games," said Cardinal coach Tom Rops. "Our defense caused a lot of problems for them. We still have to get better and improve in our future performances."Luverne sported 18-16 and 34-32 leads at the first two quarter breaks before putting the game away by outscoring Edgerton 23-15 in the second half.Pick, who scored 10 of his team-high 13 points in the second half, netted seven points when the Cards outscored EHS 13-8 in the third period to open a 47-40 lead. The hosts outscored the Flying Dutchmen 10-7 in the fourth quarter to prevail by 10.Heronimus scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Luverne. Herman scored 11 points. Deragisch charted six assists.Box scorePick 5 0 3-5 13, Herman 5 0 1-2 11, Stegemann 0 1 0-0 3, S.Boelman 1 0 2-3 4, Heronimus 4 1 0-0 11, Lange 3 0 0-0 6, Tofteland 0 1 0-3 3, Deragisch 0 1 3-5 6.Team satisticsLuverne: 22 of 62 field goals (35 percent), nine of 18 free throws (50 percent), 30 rebounds, eight turnovers.Edgerton: 17 of 47 field goals (36 percent), 10 of 22 free throws (45 percent), 34 rebounds, 17 turnovers.
