By John RittenhouseLuverne senior Jared Pick drew a tough assignment for Thursday’s quarterfinal-round game of the State Class AA Basketball Tournament in the University of Minnesota Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis.Pick was asked to defend 6-5 Moose Lake-Willow River senior guard Geoff Probst, the leading scorer in the history of ML-WR boys basketball.Pick was up to the challenge in more ways than one.With help from his team, Pick limited Probst to 12 points (five in the first half) on four of 15 shooting from the floor to help the Cardinals post a 54-42 victory over the Rebels.Pick also shined on the offensive end of the court, scoring 15 points (nine in the second half) and converting on five of six field goal attempts to propel the Cardinals into the semifinal round.Although his offensive production was helpful, Luverne said it was Pick’s effort on defense that benefited his team the most."Jared Pick was man-up on their best player (Probst)," said Luverne coach Tom Rops. "He did a good job of denying Probst the ball. Jared had to be aggressive and stay in front of him, and everyone else had to help out. It worked out for us."Pick said he used a mental approach to make the strategy work."I tried to get into his head," Pick said after the game."We tried to be physical with him. He’s a little bit bigger than I am, but I didn’t let that bother me. I just tried to keep him from getting inside and made him shoot from the outside."With Probst contained on the offensive end of the court, all the Cardinals needed to do was produce on offense to advance to the semifinals. Luverne did that and more as it outscored ML-WR in all four quarters of the 12-point victory.The Rebels sported 2-0 and 4-3 leads early in the game, but the Cards moved in front 7-4 when Pick converted a field goal at the 4:18 mark of the opening period. The score was 8-5 when Pick drained a free throw at 3:04, which proved to be the decisive point of a first quarter that ended with the Cards sporting an 8-7 edge.ML-WR tied the game at eight early in the second quarter before Luverne’s Brad Herman sparked a 6-0 run with a tip-in at the 7:23 mark of the stanza. The run, which ended with Pick sinking a free throw at 6:03, gave the Cards a 14-8 lead.Luverne never led by more than six points or by less than four points during the remainder of the first half, which ended with the Cards owning a 22-18 cushion.LHS outscored the Rebels 14-7 in the third quarter to settle the issue.A 9-5 scoring spurt capped by two free throws from Brandon Deragisch gave the Cards a 33-23 lead at the 3:16 mark of the third quarter. Deragisch, who scored 13 points in the game, hit a three-point shot at 1:35 to cap the third-quarter scoring and gave LHS a 36-25 lead.ML-WR scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to trail 36-29, but the Cards countered with an 8-0 run capped by a reverse layup from Pick that expanded Luverne’s lead to 15 points (44-29) with 3:07 left to play.The Rebels trimmed the difference to 11 points on three different occasions and trailed by 10 when Probst hit a three-point shot with less than 20 seconds remaining. Luverne’s Jake Hendricks drained two free throws with 12 seconds left to ice the 12-point win.Although he led the Cardinals in scoring as a result of his slashing drives to the basket, Pick downplayed his offensive role when the game was over."I just try to shoot layups," he said. "I leave the outside shooting to the other guys."Along with limiting Probst to 12 points, Luverne kept ML-WR post Darrin Coil under control. The tallest player on the floor at 6-7, Coil was limited to 13 points in the contest."We knew which two kids were their scorers, and everyone helped out in holding them down," Rops said. "We didn’t shut Probst and Coil down, but I think we did slow them down."John Tofteland and Nick Heronimus made key contributions to Luverne’s effort. Tofteland charted five assists. Heronimus pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds, with 10 coming on the defensive end of the court. Pick led the Cards with two steals.Box scorePick 5 0 5-8 15, Herman 4 0 0-0 8, Deragisch 1 3 2-4 13, Tofteland 1 1 3-4 8, Heronimus 2 0 2-2 6, Haakenson 0 0 0-0 0, Hendricks 1 0 2-2 4, Antoine 0 0 0-0 0, Boelman 0 0 0-0 0, Clark 0 0 0-0 0.Team statisticsLuverne: 18of 36 field goals (50 percent), 14 of 20 free throws (70 percent), 29 rebounds, 11 turnovers.ML-WR: 18 of 50 field goals (36 percent), four of 10 free throws (40 percent), 27 rebounds, nine turnovers.