The Luverne boys’ basketball team gained some momentum heading into postseason play by reeling off a pair of home wins last week.
The Cardinals beat Pipestone by seven points Feb. 18 before besting Minneota by 11 points Friday.
Luverne, 11-13 overall, opens the Section 3A Tournament Saturday (site and opponent will be released Monday).
LHS 75, Minneota 64
The Cardinals notched their third consecutive victory when they bested the Vikings in a hard-fought game Friday in Luverne.
Minneota sported leads in both halves of the contest, but LHS used a strong second half to secure an 11-point conquest.
The Vikings led 6-2 early in the game before LHS went on a 19-9 run ending with a three-point shot from Isaiah Bartels to open a 21-15 advantage.
Minneota battled back to regain the lead at 30-27 with 2:14 remaining in the opening stanza, but the Cards closed the half with a 7-2 surge ending with Bailey Cowell canning a field goal with one second left to sport a 34-32 edge at the intermission.
LHS led by three points early in the second half before the Vikings moved in front 43-41 with 13:30 remaining.
The Cards responded by mounting a 10-3 surge to open a 54-46 lead when Cowell converted a field goal at the 8:35 mark.
Minneota closed the gap to five points at two different occasions as the second half progressed, but LHS thwarted the challenge by increasing the lead to 12 points (73-61) when Cowell sank one free throw with 48 seconds remaining, and the Cards prevailed by 11 at game’s end.
Bartels (21 points, Nick Feit (18 points), Cowell (17 points) and Gannon Ahrendt (13 points and seven rebounds) led the Cards to victory.
Box score
Cowell 5 1 4-8 17, Sehr 0 0 0-0 0, Bartels 5 2 5-7 21, Ahrendt 2 3 0-2 13, Feit 6 0 6-6 18, DeSollar 0 0 0-0 0, Beyer 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Rops 3 0 0-1 6.
Team statistics
Luverne: 27 of 46 field goals (59 percent), 15 of 22 free throws (68 percent), 23 rebounds.
Minneota: 24 field goals made, eight of 12 free throws (67 percent).
LHS 54, Pipestone 47
The Cardinals completed a 4-8 Big South Conference slate by besting the Arrows in a seven-point game played in Luverne Feb. 18.
LHS gained the upper hand by outscoring the Arrows 29-21 in the first half.
Pipestone sported a 26-25 scoring edge in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Luverne’s early advantage.
Bartels led the Cardinals with 19 points, while Feit and Cowell added 11 and 10 points respectively.
Ahrendt grabbed five rebounds for LHS.
Box score
Cowell 2 2 0-0 10, Sehr 1 0 0-3 2, Bartels 7 0 5-6 19, Ahrendt 2 1 2-2 9, Feit 4 1 0-0 11, Rops 1 0 1-2 3.
Team statistics
Luverne: 21 of 47 field goals (45 percent), eight of 13 free throws (62 percent), 20 rebounds.
Pipestone: 15 field goals made, 10 of 10 free throws (100 percent).