, 
, 
, 
The Luverne boys’ basketball team ended their post-season hopes at the hands of Redwood Valley Saturday, March 4, in Luverne.
The No. 1 seeded Luverne Cardinals lost a close 68-61 Section 3AA South playoff game to the visiting No. 8 seeded Redwood Valley Cardinals.
Luverne previously beat Redwood twice in the regular season 77-75 at home Dec. 19 and 72-48 in Redwood Jan. 27.
On Saturday the Cardinals had a hard time keeping Redwood players from connecting on 3-point shots, and the visiting Cardinals out-rebounded the LHS Cardinals 35-27.
“The game was close all the way through. Redwood made a run in the second half to get up 10, but our kids fought hard to get it right back to a two-point game,” head coach Sichmeller said.
“We had some really good shots to get the lead but just couldn’t get over the hump at the end.”
Redwood shot 63 percent inside the paint and scored 19 points on turnovers.
Luverne players struggled to get inside shots to fall, and they made only six of 17 beyond the three-point line.
Junior Gavin DeBeer led Luverne with 19 points. He also had three rebounds, four assists and one steal.
Senior Gannon Ahrendt posted 15 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals in his final game for Luverne.
Sophomore Carter Sehr made 12 points, had five rebounds and one steal.
Senior Marcus Feit added six points, two rebounds and three steals for Luverne.
Senior Riley Sneller contributed five points.
Senior Tyson Cowell made five points and had three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one blocked shot.
“I was really proud of how this team developed throughout the year,” Sichmeller said.
“The seniors provided great leadership all year and they were great role models for our younger players.”
Luverne finished its 2022-23 regular season with a record of 13-11 and a Big South West Conference record of 5-6.