By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys moved into the semifinal round of the South Section 3AA Basketball Tournament for the second consecutive year after posting a convincing win over Tracy-Milroy-Balaton during a quarterfinal-round game played in Luverne Saturday.Luverne, which struggled at times during the game, made 48 percent of its field goals to set the stage for a 66-37 win over the Panthers.The win gives Luverne a 15-8 record heading into tonight’s semifinals, which the Cardinals will host since they are the tournament’s No. 1 seed.At 6 p.m. the Cards will play No. 4 Renville County West, a 41-37 winner over Windom in the quarterfinals. Redwood Valley and Pipestone will meet in the second semifinal game of the night, which will be played after the LHS-RCW clash.Although the Cardinals posted a 29-point win over eighth-seeded T-M-B, LHS coach Tom Rops wasn’t completely satisfied with his team’s performance. Inconsistent play, a possible result of tournament jitters, topped Rops’ list of concerns."We played good second and fourth quarters, but we played poorly in the first and third quarters. I’m glad we got a win, but we need to maintain our intensity for 32 minutes," he said.Luverne scored the game’s first three points before T-M-B moved in front 6-5 2:36 into the contest.The Cards countered with a 6-0 surge that ended with John Tofteland’s reverse layup to take an 11-6 lead at the 1:46 mark of the first quarter. T-M-B, however, scored the final two points of the quarter to trail 11-8 at period’s end.Luverne dominated the action in the second quarter.The Cards scored the first two points of the period during what turned into a 12-1 run that ended with the hosts porting a 23-9 lead when Brandon Deragisch converted a field goal at 3:28. Luverne proceeded to outscore the Panthers 10-6 the rest of the stanza and led 33-15 when Andy Haakenson scored the final two points of the first half with 12 seconds remaining.Luverne struggled early in the second half as T-M-B scored the first eight points of the third period to trail 33-23. The Cardinals answered the challenge by outscoring the Panthers 7-2 in the final 4:30 of the period, increasing their advantage to 15 points (40-25) when Dusty Antoine turned an offensive rebound into a basket with 16 seconds left to play.The Cards settled the issue early in the fourth quarter, when a 10-2 run capped by two free throws from Tofteland at the 6:18 mark gave the hosts a 23-point lead at 50-27. Luverne went on to outscore the Panthers 16-10 the rest of the period to prevail by 27.Tofteland led the Cards with 13 points and four steals in the game. Antoine, who netted 12 points, nabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Brad Herman added three assists to the winning cause.Box scorePick 1 0 2-2 4, Haakenson 1 0 0-0 2, Ward 0 0 0-0 0, Herman 2 0 2-4 6, Deragisch 4 0 1-4 9, Hendricks 1 0 2-2 4, Antoine 4 1 1-3 12, Tofteland 4 0 5-9 13, Miller 0 0 0-0 0, Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, Boeve 0 0 1-4 1, DeBoer 0 0 0-0 0, Boelman 2 0 1-4 5, Heronimus 3 0 0-0 6, Clark 1 0 0-0 2.Team statisticsLuverne: 25 of 52 field goals (48 percent), 15 of 32 free throws (47 percent), 32 rebounds, five turnovers.T-M-B: 12 of 50 field goals (24 percent), 13 of 24 free throws (54 percent), 30 rebounds, 21 turnovers.