Luverne’s Josh Lange (left) and Jake Hendricks (20) challenge a shot taken by Redwood Valley’s Kelsey Mattison during Saturday’s Southwest Conference boys’ basketball game in Luverne. State-ranked RWV handed Luverne a 62-42 setback.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys’ basketball team was unable to post a win when it entertained a pair of Southwest Conference foes.Redwood Valley toppled the Cardinals by 20 points Saturday before Windom upended LHS by five points Tuesday.Luverne, 8-11 overall, hosts Madison, S.D., Tuesday.Windom 58, Luverne 53The Eagles gained revenge for a loss to the Cardinals earlier in the season when they bested LHS by five points in Luverne Tuesday.Windom outscored the hosts 35-25 in the second and third quarters to gain some separation and withstood a late rally by Luverne to win the game."We played really flat tonight," said Cardinal coach Tom Rops. "You could tell Windom was a lot hungrier than we were. We hurt ourselves by not making free throws and putting them on the free-throw line during the game."The teams battled to a draw at 13 in the first quarter before Windom opened 34-25 and 48-38 leads at the end of the second and third periods. Luverne pulled to within four points of the Eagles with 2:30 left in the game, but Windom held its ground and went on to win by five.Nick Heronimus and Jared Pick scored 15 and 10 points respectively for the Cards. Andy Stegemann snared seven rebounds.Box scorePick 2 0 6-12 10, Tofteland 2 0 0-0 4, Herman 2 0 0-0 4, Deragisch 3 0 0-0 6, Stegemann 2 0 2-4 6, S.Boelman 3 0 0-2 6, Heronimus 1 3 4-7 15, Lange 1 0 0-2 2.Team statisticsLuverne: 19 of 51 field goals (37 percent), 12 of 27 free throws (44 percent), 30 rebounds, eight turnovers.Windom: 17 of 31 field goals (55 percent), 23 of 34 free throws (68 percent), 18 rebounds, 12 turnovers.RWV 62, Luverne 42The Cardinals were unable to knock off state-ranked RWV when the teams squared off in Luverne Saturday.RWV, the state’s fourth-ranked Class 2A team, outscored the Cardinals 46-31 in the final three quarters to post a 20-point victory over LHS.The visitors scored the game’s first six points on the way to a 14-6 lead in the first quarter before Luverne countered with a 5-0 surge that was capped by a field goal from Scott Boelman with 1:08 remaining to make it a 14-11 game.RWV scored the final two points of the period to lead 16-11 heading into the second stanza.Luverne’s Josh Lange nailed a pair of free throws to open the scoring in the second quarter to make it a 16-13 game, but RWV took control of the contest after scoring nine straight points to open a 25-13 advantage.RWV led 32-17 at halftime and increased the difference to 26 points (53-27) by outscoring the Cards 21-10 in the third quarter.Luverne sported a 15-10 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter, but the game was out of reach at that point.Dusty Antoine scored seven points to lead the Cards. Lange collected six rebounds.Box scorePick 2 0 0-0 4, Tofteland 0 1 1-2 4, Graphenteen 0 1 0-0 3, Herman 1 0 0-2 2, Deragisch 0 1 1-3 4, Hendricks 1 0 0-0 2, Antoine 1 0 5-6 7, Stegemann 0 0 0-0 0, Willers 0 0 0-0 0, S.Boelman 3 0 0-1 6, M.Boelman 0 0 0-0 0, Heronimus 0 0 4-5 4, Lange 2 0 2-2 6.Team statisticsLuverne: 13 of 28 field goals (46 percent), 13 of 22 free throws (59 percent), 19 rebounds, 11 turnovers.RWV: 22 of 44 field goals (50 percent), 15 of 25 free throws (60 percent), 28 rebounds, seven turnovers.
