By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys basketball team picked up a momentum-building victory when the Cardinals capped the regular season Thursday night.Playing state-ranked Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in Luverne, the Cards gave a large crowd a special treat by nipping the Knights 61-60 in a thrilling game.R-T-R, the defending state Class A champion and a team currently ranked third in its class, snapped a deadlock at 46 with a 7-0 run that left the Knights sporting a 53-46 lead with 5:03 remaining in the fourth quarter.Luverne battled back to tie the game at 55 when Nick Heronimus drilled a three-point shot at 2:45, but R-T-R regained the lead at 60-57 moments later.Luverne’s Brad Herman trimmed the difference to one point (60-59) with 1:11 remaining before senior John Tofteland put the Cards in front 61-60 with a driving shot in the lane with 44 seconds remaining.The Cards were unable to ice the contest with a bonus free-throw situation with 28 seconds remaining, giving the Knights one more opportunity to win the game. The Knights set up a play after calling a time-out with nine seconds that resulted in a missed shot. R-T-R got the ball back with one-tenth of one second remaining, but was unable score on an attempted tip-in as time expired."It was a good win for us," said Cardinal coach Tom Rops."This was a good game to prepare us for the playoffs. R-T-R is a quick, strong team, and this was a rough and rugged game. Hopefully we can go deep into the playoffs and see more teams like this one."Luverne drew the No. 1 Seed for the South Section 3AA Tournament, which begins Saturday in Luverne. The 15-8 Cards play No. 8 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton at 7 p.m.Thursday’s game against the Knights was a tight battle that featured both teams sporting leads in all four quarters.R-T-R scored the first four points of the contest and led 6-2 before Luverne went on an 8-0 run capped by a field goal from Brandon Deragisch to take a 10-6 advantage at the 1:57 mark of the first quarter.The Knights trimmed the difference to one point (13-12) by the end of the first quarter, but the Cards opened the second quarter with a 9-2 spurt. They gained a 22-14 lead when Dusty Antoine converted an offensive rebound into a field goal at the 5:31 mark of the second quarter. R-T-R responded by scoring the next 11 points during what developed into a 15-1 run that gave the Knights a 29-23 halftime lead.Luverne outscored the Knights 12-1 in the first 3:17 of the third quarter and led 35-31 when Deragisch delivered a three-point shot at 4:43. R-T-R regained the lead at 46-40 before Luverne’s Tofteland scored with 11 seconds left to make it a 46-42 game heading into the fourth quarter.Deragisch, who collected six rebounds, led the Cards with 12 points. Herman led LHS with eight rebounds and netted 11 points. Tofteland and Jake Hendricks chipped in 10 points each, Jared Pick added four assists to the winning cause."Our balance was the key," Rops said. "The kids never gave up. We hit the shots when we needed them and were able to claw out a victory."Box scorePick 2 0 1-1 5, Herman 4 0 3-6 11, Deragisch 4 1 1-3 12, Hendricks 1 2 2-2 10, Antoine 1 1 0-0 5, Tofteland 4 1 0-0 11, Heronimus 2 1 0-0 7.Team statisticsLuverne: 24 of 45 field goals (53 percent), nine of 14 free throws (64 percent), 29 rebounds, 11 turnovers.R-T-R: 25 of 56 field goals (45 percent), eight of 14 free throws (57 percent), 25 rebounds, eight turnovers.