LHS boys' basketball team defeats Windom Area, Montevideo

The Luverne boys’ basketball team continued their winning ways last week, defeating the Windom Area Eagles 76-57 and the Montevideo Thunder Hawks 60-54.
The two victories over section opponents were the Cardinals’ third and fourth in a row and sixth and seventh wins of the season.
“It was good to get two section wins this week,” said Luverne head coach John Sichmeller.
“After a slow start to the season, we are finally starting to see the type of team we can be.”
The Cardinals were scheduled to host the Pipestone Area Arrows Tuesday night (Feb. 15) before hosting Hills-Beaver Creek tonight (Thursday, Feb. 17) and traveling to Jackson County Central Friday night.
Luverne, now 7-11 on the season, will host the Worthington Trojans on Tuesday night in their second-to-last regular season game.
“We are playing our best basketball of the year, and if we keep playing well, we can really move up in the section standings as we approach the playoffs,” Sichmeller said.
 
Luverne 76,
Windom Area 57
The Cardinals avenged their 62-50 loss to Windom Area on Jan. 7 when they defeated the Eagles 76-57 in Windom Feb. 10.
Windom led for much of the first half before Luverne gained the lead in the final six minutes before halftime.
The Cardinals led 31-26 at the half. They held on to the lead throughout the remainder of the game, outscoring the Eagles 54-31 in the second half.
Nine LHS players scored in the contest. Gannon Ahrendt led the offense with 24 points.
Colin Schoeneman totaled 14 points including four three-pointers.
Luverne dominated the boards with 45 rebounds compared to 30 by the Eagles.
Connor Overgaard collected 16 total rebounds and Nathaniel Cole-Kraty brought in 11. 
 
Box score:
Cole-Kraty 1 0 2-6 4, Schoeneman 1 4 0-0 14, Frahm 1 0 0-0 2, Sehr 2 0 4-4 8, Radtke 0 1 6-6 9, Friedrichsen 2 0 1-1 5, De Beer 1 1 0-0 5, Ahrendt 10 0 4-4 24, Overgaard 2 0 1-2 5
 
Team stats:
Luverne: 26 of 59 (44 percent), 18 of 24 free throws (75 percent), 45 rebounds, 9 turnovers
Windom Area: 24 of 65 (37 percent), 2 of 4 free throws (50 percent), 30 rebounds, 9 turnovers
 
Luverne 60,
Montevideo 54
Both the Luverne girls’ and boys’ basketball teams had the opportunity to play on a neutral college court Saturday when they faced Montevideo at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.
It was a Cardinals sweep after the boys followed an exciting 47-45 Luverne girls’ win with a solid 60-54 victory of their own over the Thunder Hawks.
The teams were even through the first quarter of the game before Luverne built a 31-20 halftime advantage.
The Cardinals led by as much as 18 points (49-31) with about 11 minutes remaining in the game.
Montevideo narrowed the LHS lead to six points a number of times later in the half.
A three-pointer by the Hawks with less than one minute remaining cut the lead to three (47-44).
Eli Radtke then made one of two free throws.
When Ahrendt completed a thunderous dunk with only seconds remaining, the 60-54 Cardinal victory was sealed.
Ahrendt was the leading scorer in the game with 29 points.
Schoeneman and Radtke totaled nine points each.
Overgaard collected ten rebounds in the game, while Cole-Kraty had nine.
 
Box Score:
Cole-Kraty 1 0 1-4 3, Schoeneman 0 3 0-0 9, Sehr 1 0 3-5 5, Radtke 3 0 3-6 9, Ahrendt 10 3 0-2 29, Overgaard 2 0 1-5 5
 
Team Stats:
Luverne: 23 of 42 (55 percent), 8 of 22 free throws (36 percent), 37 rebounds, 18 turnovers
Montevideo: 24 of 65 (37 percent), 1 of 1 free throws (100 percent), 28 rebounds, 10 turnovers.