The Blue Earth Area Bucs traveled to Fairmont Jan. 30, looking to put a blemish on the Cardinals’ perfect South Central Conference record.

Things were looking good for the BEA boys as they built a 16-point lead with 1:48 remaining in the first half.

Unfortunately for the Bucs, the Cardinals chopped seven points off the lead before half time and then completed the comeback in the second half. BEA fell to Fairmont 43-40.

The loss dropped the Bucs conference record to 3-3 while the Cardinals improved to 6-0.

The SCC foes were very evenly matched in the early minutes of the the contest. Garrett Anderson’s two free throws with 11:09 left in the first half gave the Bucs a 9-8 lead. But Fairmont’s Tanner Thiesse bucket underneath gave the lead right back to the Cardinals at 10-9.

A 17-0 scoring barrage by Anderson, Nick Lee, and Nate Carr, gave the Bucs a 26-10 lead. The Cardinals then employed a half court trap defense forcing the Bucs to commit some passing errors that resulted in the host team to running off seven straight points to make the score 26-17 going into half time and swing the momentum to the Cardinals.

Fairmont scored the first four points of the second half to cut the Bucs’ lead to three points at 26-23. An Anderson bucket and a Carr free throw put the Bucs on top by six at 29-23.A time out was called by the Bucs after Fairmont closed to within one at 31-30 at the 9:41 mark. A Cardinal bucket gave them their first lead since early in the game. An Anderson free throw tied things up at 32 all with 7:21 remaining.

The Cards’ Tyler Majeske ripped the cords for a three but a Lee jump shot brought the Bucs back within one point at 35-34 with 2:25 left to play.

The Bucs got the stop they needed on defense and went to work on their end of the court.

Anderson battled hard to score underneath for BEA. After grabbing a couple of offensive rebounds, he was pulled down from behind by the Cardinals’ Justin Heinrich who was whistled for an intentional foul which meant the Bucs would get two free throws plus the ball

Dalton Hurn came in off the bench to shoot the free throws for Anderson who was shaken up on the play. Hurn made one of two to tie the game up at 35.

The Bucs then committed a turnover which Fairmont’s Justin Walters converted to a lay up. It give the Cardinals the lead for good at 37-35.

Brennan Holm made 6 of 6 free throws over the last 28.5 seconds to keep the Cards in front. The Bucs were forced to foul to get the ball back.

A basket by Anderson and a three by Lee with two seconds left on the clock finished the scoring for the Bucs – but left them three points short of the Cardinals.

Anderson led all scorers with 20 points. Lee added eight for the Bucs who were only 1 of 6 from 3-point range.

Fairmont out-rebounded the Bucs 28-20, with Anderson collecting nine boards for the night.