By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys’ basketball team wrapped up a 17-6 regular season with a home game against Murray County Central Thursday.Although LHS coach Tom Rops was dissatisfied with the happenings overall on the court, the Cardinals did play well enough to secure a 61-48 victory.The win came one day after Luverne drew the No. 1 seed for the South Section 3AA Tournament for the second straight year.The Cards open the tournament by hosting Jackson County Central at 7 p.m. Saturday.Rops is hoping the Cardinals will turn in a more inspiring performance when tournament play begins.Luverne did outscore MCC in both halves of Thursday’s tilt, but the coach wasn’t sold on his team’s performance."We won the game, but we played pretty flat. I expect more out of our team than what I saw on Thursday. Hopefully, we can get it turned around in the playoffs," he said.The Cardinals sported a 35-27 halftime advantage against MCC before outscoring the Rebels 26-21 in the second half to win by 13.Seniors Nick Heronimus and Jake Hendricks led the Cards in scoring with 16 and 11 points respectively. Derek Boeve latched on to seven rebounds. Marc Boelman blocked seven shots.Box scoreHaakenson 1 1 0-1 5, Boelman 3 0 1-2 7, Miller 2 0 1-2 5, Hendricks 2 2 1-2 11, Clark 1 1 1-2 6, Sawtelle 1 0 0-0 2, Boeve 1 1 2-2 7, Heronimus 3 1 7-11 16, Ward 0 0 2-4 2.Team statisticsLuverne: 20 0f 58 field goals (34 percent), 15 of 26 free throws (58 percent), 31 rebounds, 13 turnovers.MCC: 22 of 60 field goals (37 percent), four of seven free throws (57 percent), 16 rebounds, 12 turnovers.