A complete drought of scoring in the second half for the Buccaneer boys basketball team erased a 13 point lead and caused them to lose by ten, 55-45, to the state-ranked Maple River Eagles last Thursday.

With 13 minutes left in the second half, a three-pointer by Logan Becker put the Bucs up by 13 at 38-25. They would score only one point over the next 11 1/2 minutes of play. They got one free throw from Garrett Anderson with 8:32 left to make it 40-39 after the Eagles had tied it at 38 all.

Their next points came on a Logan Becker basket with a minute and a half left in the game. Becker scored twice more and so did Jon Trasamar, but the Eagles nailed every free-throw at the line at the end of the game and the Bucs could not catch up.

Blue Earth Area started out the game behind, 6-0, and slowly got back into the race and tied it at 11 all after a three-pointer by Forrest Passer. A three-pointer by Becker broke another tie and put the Bucs ahead for the first time in the game at 20-17. The home team Bucs had the lead, 29-23 at the half.

The Bucs continued to have the lead into the second half, although they were plagued with a series of traveling calls. Becker made one free-throw after a technical foul was called on the Eagles bench, and that put BEA up by ten. It was followed by his three that gave them the big 13 point lead at the 13 minute mark.

The Eagles put on a full-court pressure defense that the Bucs had trouble breaking. The Eagles got several steals, and at least one ten second call as they slowly erased the deficit. The Bucs got out-scored by the Eagles 30-7 in those final 13 minutes of the game.

BEA was led by Becker who had 19 points. Nick Lee added 11 for the Bucs. Trasamar and Anderson, who had been finding the scoring column a lot in recent games, were held to just four points each by the Eagles. Maple River had three players in double figures, with Seth Anderson leading them with 18 points. Eli Walters and Logan Drager each had 12 points.

The loss dropped the Bucs season record to 11-6.

The BEA boys team has two games remaining in the regular season. This week they host New Ulm on Thursday and then host Windom Area on Saturday.