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Luverne boys comes up short twice

Lead Summary
By
Jason Berghorst for the Star Herald

The Luverne boys’ basketball team slipped to 1-6 on the season after losing two Big South Conference games last week. 
The Cardinals lost to Marshall by six (50-44) in Marshall on Jan. 4 before falling to Windom by 12 points (62-50) in Luverne Friday night, Jan. 7. 
Luverne was scheduled to travel to Pipestone Tuesday, Jan. 11, to take on the Arrows. The Cardinals will travel to Jackson Friday night for a game with the Huskies before hosting Southwest Minnesota Christian Monday night in the Luverne Classic Gym. 
 
Marshall 50, Luverne 44
For the second time in less than three weeks, Luverne lost a close contest to the Marshall Tigers.
The Cardinals fell to the Tigers 51-42 Dec. 16 in Marshall and 50-44 Jan. 4 at home. 
Overall, Luverne head coach John Sichmeller found reasons for optimism in the losses to Marshall compared to recent years when games between the two teams were sometimes lopsided Tiger victories. 
“I thought our kids played really hard and stuck to the game plan very well,” Sichmeller said of the Jan. 4 game. 
“The game was back and forth the whole way, and we had plenty of chances to get the win; we just couldn’t quite get over the hump.”
In fact, Luverne held leads in both the first and second half and outshot the Tigers 49 percent to 39 percent in field goals. 
The balance between the two teams was also evident in assists (13 for Luverne and 12 for Marshall), steals (13 and 12), blocks (2 and 2) and turnovers (18 and 17). 
Marshall had the rebound advantage (33 to 26). 
Luverne junior Gannon Ahrendt, playing in his first game of the season after returning from a football injury, led the Cardinals in scoring with 23 points. Ahrendt also collected nine rebounds. 
Connor Overgaard totaled 15 points for Luverne. 
 
Box score
Cole-Kraty 0 0 0-0 0, Schoeneman 0 0 0-0 0, Sehr 2 0 0-4 4, Radtke 1 0 0-2 2, Ahrendt 7 3 0-0 23, Overgaard 6 0 3-5 15
 
Team stats:
Luverne: 19 of 39 (49 percent), 3 of 11 free throws (27 percent), 26 rebounds, 18 turnovers
Marshall: 20 of 51 (39 percent), 6 of 13 free throws (46 percent), 33 rebounds, 17 turnovers
 
Windom 62, Luverne 50
Luverne scored the first points of the game and led by as much as 7-2 in the first five minutes, but the early success was fleeting for the Cardinals in a 62-50 loss to the Windom Eagles Friday night at home. 
Windom sported a 34-28 halftime lead and maintained (and extended) the advantage in the second half. 
The Eagles led by as many as 17 points (62-45) with 1:20 left before Luverne scored five late points. 
Senior Eli Radtke was the leading scorer for Luverne with 14 points. Gannon Ahrendt added 13 points.
Connor Overgaard collected 11 rebounds for the Cardinals. 
 
Box Score
Cole-Kraty 1 0 1-2 3, Schoeneman 1 0 0-1 2, Frahm 0 1 0-0 3, Sneller 0 0 0-0 0, Cowell 0 0 0-0 0, Sehr 2 1 2-5 9, Feit 0 0 0-0 0, Radtke 3 1 5-5 14, Friedrichsen 0 0 0-0 0, DeBeer 0 0 0-0 0, Ahrendt 4 0 5-8 13, Overgaard 2 0 0-0 4, Mounce 0 0 1-2 1, Arp 0 0 1-2 1
 
Team Stats:
Luverne: 16 of 59 (27 percent), 15 of 26 free throws (58 percent), 45 rebounds, 18 turnovers
Windom: 21 of 61 (34 percent), 17 of 21 free throws (81 percent), 43 rebounds, 16 turnovers

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