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The year is 1964, and the Luverne Cardinals basketball team just won the state championship...
Since all athletic events have been put on hold, we thought we would take you all on a trip down memory lane.
The Luverne Cardinals became the Minnesota state basketball champions last weekend.
After winning the Region 2 championship at Mankato the previous weekend, the Cards advanced to state tourney play last Thursday afternoon in their first game with Hutchinson.
Luverne knocked off Hutchinson 65-50 and advanced from there into the semi-finals against undefeated Proctor Friday night. They downed Proctor 80-57.
Saturday night's final in Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus pitted the Cards against Rochester following that team's win over Edina in the semi-finals. Luverne handed Rochester a 72-66 defeat and won their first state championship. It was the first time the Cardinals had played in the state tournament since 1938.
Luverne-Hutchinson
Greg Thone and John Beyer led the scoring for the Cards in their Thursday afternoon win over Hutchinson. Thone scored 20 points and Beyer came in with 19 points for second place honors.
Luverne led only 46-45 with 4½ minutes remaining in the game but came through in the final minutes and outscored Hutchinson, 19-5 to assure an easy win when the final buzzer sounded.
The final score was 65-50
Luverne-Proctor
The Cardinals shattered Proctor's 24 game winning streak Friday night, 80-57.
Del Jessen scored 34 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to pace the win over Proctor in the semi-finals. John Beyer netted 15 points, and Greg Thone, 14.
Luverne shot into an early lead and were out in front of Proctor 15-2 with only 3½ minutes gone into the first quarter. Their lead reached 25 points in the fourth quarter when they were out in front, 78-53 at one point.
Luverne-Rochester
The Cardinals put on a whirlwind finish to whip Rochester in the final Championship game Saturday night.
Luverne wasn’t assured of any easy win going into the final minutes and the two teams were tied at 55-55 with 6:34 remaining. Three quick field goals by Greg Thone, John Beyer, and Bill Toms gave the Cards a six point lead with a little over four minutes remaining.
Luverne got their advantage when Tom Kozney dropped in a long shot and Thone added two free throws to give the Cards a 65-57 lead with 2:08 remaining.
The final score was 72-66