By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys’ basketball team opened Southwest Conference competition by posting a pair of impressive wins.The Cardinals topped Pipestone by five points in Luverne Friday before rolling to a 29-point victory in Worthington Tuesday.Luverne, 4-0 overall, hosts Edgerton Friday and travels to Fulda Saturday.Luverne 60, Worthington 31A strong effort on defense carried the Cardinals to a 29-point win in Worthington Tuesday.Luverne’s man-to-man resistance created 31 turnovers, turning what was anticipated to be a close game into a rout."Give a lot of credit to the way our kids played on defense," said LHS coach Tom Rops."We were able to take them out of their offense, and we scored a lot of second-chance points off turnovers."Luverne led 33-19 at halftime before playing one of its best stretches of defense of the year in the second half.LHS limited Worthington to five points in the first 13 minutes of the second half, helping the Cards outscore the Trojans 27-12 in the final half.Jake Hendricks and Derek Boeve led the way for the Cards offensively by netting 14 points each.Box scoreBoomgaarden 1 0 0 2,Boelman 3 0 2 8, Miller 1 0 4 6, Hendricks 5 1 1 14, Uphoff 1 0 0 2, Sawtelle 1 0 0 2, Boeve 3 1 5 14, DeBoer 1 0 0 2, Heronimus 3 0 3 9, Haakenson 0 0 1 1.Luverne 55, Pipestone 50The Cardinals fought off a late challenge by the Arrows to win their conference opener Friday in Luverne.Leading 28-24 at halftime, LHS appeared to be in control of the contest when it opened a 12-point advantage in the second half.Pipestone, however, closed the gap to four points (54-50) with 16.2 seconds remaining before falling by five points at game’s end."I think this was the best game we’ve played this year, but we still need to improve on the mental mistakes we’re making," said LHS coach Rops.Marc Boelman led the Cards with 20 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots. Boeve scored 10 second-half points and 17 in the game. Nick Heronimus passed for four assists and Jake Clark charted two steals.Box scoreWard 0 0 2-4 2, Haakenson 0 0 1-2 1, Boelman 8 0 4-6 20, Miller 0 0 3-6 3, Hendricks 0 0 1-2 1, Clark 3 0 0-0 6, Boeve 4 0 9-12 17, DeBoer 1 0 0-0 2, Heronimus 1 0 1-2 3.Team statisticsLuverne: 17 of 36 field goals (47 percent), 21 of 34 free throws (62 percent), 29 rebounds, 13 turnovers.Pipestone: 18 of 47 field goals (38 percent), 11 of 18 free throws (61 percent), 17 rebounds, eight turnovers.