The Goshen Eagles emphatically advanced to the championship round of the Class 2A Area six tournament with a 60-29 win over Luverne on Tuesday night.

The win for the Eagles guarantees them a spot in the upcoming sub-regional tournament.

“Overall, I thought we played better defensively then we did offensively,” said Eagles head coach Ethan Carroll. “I think offensively we struggled a little bit; we had to hit some free throws to score, but I think our defense created some turnovers.”

With the strong defense, the Eagles were able to get off to a quick start and enter the second quarter with a 10-5 lead. That lead exploded in the second quarter, when the Eagles were able to get easy baskets off of turnovers and head into halftime with a 36-9 lead.

“Once you get into the area tournament, there is no middle ground when it comes to waiting until the second half to do something,” Carroll said. “If we played good defense, then I felt good about what we could do that night.”

The Tigers were able to outscore the Eagles 14-13 in the third quarter, but the Eagles’ sizeable cushion was enough to give them the win.

Michael Hollis finished the game with 13 points, three steals and one rebound. Zack Alford had 14 points, two assists, one steal and one rebound while Tavares Adams finished with nine points and five rebounds.

The Eagles will play in the area championship this evening at 6 p.m. against Calhoun.

“That is our number one game right now,” Carroll said. “We are going to watch some film and go over some things that we think they are going to do. I think Calhoun is the most improved team based on the first time we have seen them until now.