By John RittenhouseThe Luverne Cardinals face a basketball team making its first appearance at a state tournament when the Class AA competition begins today at the Sports Pavilion on the University of Minnesota Campus.The Moose Lake-Willow River Rebels earned their first berth in the state classic by rallying in the second half to best Virginia 62-53 in the Section 7AA title game Saturday in Grand Rapids.The Cardinals and Rebels square off at 6:30 p.m. in the final game of the quarterfinals.Crookston (27-2) and Belle Plaine (16-12) play at 4 p.m. and are the other teams in Luverne’s side of the bracket. Defending Class AA champion Braham (30-0) and Minneapolis De LaSalle (19-10) open the tournament at 11 a.m. Rockford (27-3) and Chatfield (26-2) play the second game at 1:30 p.m.Although this will be the first appearance at state for the Rebel boys, the Moose Lake girls’ program qualified for state four straight seasons from 1979-1982. Moose Lake won the Class A title in 1982 and placed second in 1981.Scott Hendricks, head coach of the Moose Lake boys, does have coaching experience at the state level. Hendricks guided Eden Valley-Watkins girls’ teams to state in 1983, 1984 and 1989. EV-W placed second under the leadership of Hendricks in Class A in 1984 and 1989."We’re pretty excited up here right now," said Hendricks from his home Sunday night. "Moose Lake has had some girls’ basketball success in the past, but this is all new for our boys."Hendricks is a second-year coach at ML-WR.The Rebels earned a share of the Polar Conference championship with Esko and Barnum this winter. All three teams sport 8-2 league marks.ML-WR will take a 24-6 record into tonight’s game against the 19-8 Cardinals. The Rebels have compiled a 15-1 record since Jan. 22."It took us a long time to get into a rhythm," Hendricks said. "Our schedule was back-heavy because of some weather incidents. We’ve had to deal with two bouts of sicknesses, and we’ve had some injury issues. Now we’re healthier and back on track."Unlike the Benson Braves, a team that gave the Cardinals fits with their quickness during the Section 3AA final, ML-WR will offer LHS a different challenge. Four of the team’s five starters stand 6-3 or taller."Our strengths are our size and our seniors," Hendricks said."We have decent size for a high school team. We have eight seniors, and these kids have been playing together since the third grade. They provide good leadership and are very good kids as people."Geoff Probst, a 6-5 senior center, leads the Rebels in scoring and rebounding. Darrin Coil, a 6-7 senior post, is another one of the team’s leading rebounders.Senior Caleb Jensen (6-3), sophomore Joe Bedner (6-3) and senior Sam Gay (6-0) round out the starting five.Hendricks said the Rebels are capable of using a nine-player rotation, with seniors Brady Skog (5-10) and Josh Bednar (6-2), junior Ryan Ervin (6-2) and freshman Jimmy Mach (5-9) filling reserve roles."We don’t play a set style of basketball," Hendricks said. "We adapt from game to game, depending on who we are playing. With our size, we’re not a run-and-gun team. We do have some kids with good speed. All nine of the kids we have are good ball players, and all of them have given us good games here and there."Luverne coach Tom Rops was able to scout the Rebels Saturday in Grand Rapids, and he was impressed with their play."We’ll have to play well to beat them, but they are beatable," he said."They have some tall guys up front and a big guard we’ll have to deal with. They also have a bunch of tough, scrappy kids they can use. They change defense from zone to man, and they will do some trapping. We’ll put something together for them."