Brady Anderson

It was a heartbreaker at the end of the game last Thursday night.

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers were up by one point, 50-49, with 1.8 seconds on the clock.

But, after a time out was called by each team, the Windom Eagles inbounded the ball under the basket and got a shot to fall, defeating the Bucs 51-50 as the buzzer sounded.

It had been a close, hard fought, and sometimes crazy game, all night.

BEA found themselves in an early hole, as Windom jumped out to an 8-0 lead.

That lead grew to 12 when the Eagles hit a three point shot, going up 24-12.

The Bucs countered with a three by Riley Holmseth. He went on to hit five in the game and led the team with 17 points.

By half time the Eagle lead was down to four, at 30-26.

Finally, with 12:15 left in the game, BEA got their first lead at 36-35 with a Garrett Anderson basket.

The lead would change hands eight times in the next six minutes of the game.

A Brady Anderson bucket put the Bucs back in the lead at 48-47, with just under five minutes left in the game.

Another Brady Anderson basket, off a nice pass by Garrett Anderson, put BEA ahead 50-47.

The Eagles got two points on a shot from under the basket. It was a double whammy, as the Bucs’ Nick Lee picked up his fifth foul on the play and exited the game. Windom missed making it a three-point play – and tying the game – when the free throw didn’t fall.

Both teams squandered scoring opportunities in the final two minutes of the game. And both teams turned the ball over several times.

The Bucs had a chance with 24.5 seconds left in the game when Holmseth was fouled, but he missed the front end of a one and one. Windom followed with a miss at a three-pointer.

But, the Eagles got one more chance with the ball going out of bounds under their own basket, and a chance for a final shot with less than two ticks on the clock. They did it, giving the Bucs just their third loss of the season.

Besides Holmseth’s 17, Garrett Anderson added 10 points, and Brady Anderson eight.BEA 60, Waseca 51

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers continued their winning ways with a 60-51 victory over the Bluejays of Waseca on Jan. 28.

The Bucs got solid scoring performances from several players.

Nate Carr led the way with 17 points, while Garrett Anderson added 15 and Nick Lee put up 13. Lee had a double-double with 10 rebounds to go along with his double-digit points.

Riley Holmseth added nine points for the Buccaneers.

The Bucs were actually trailing at the half time buzzer, 31-23. But BEA outscored Waseca 37-20 in the second half to notch the victory.

The Bucs made 23 of 56 shots from the field and were 12 of 18 from the free throw line. The Bluejays were 21 of 59 from the floor and 7 of 13 for free throws.

The win put the Buccaneers season record at 12-2, and 6-1 in the South Central Conference.

BEA also reached the state rankings, listed at ninth on the Class AA list.

BEA 67, MCW 46

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers had little trouble defeating the Mavericks of Martin County West on Friday, Jan. 29.

The Bucs led 38-20 at the half time break, then went on to win 67-46.

BEA built up a 10 point lead early and never looked back on the way to their 13th win of the season.

Nick Lee led the Bucs scoring attack with 14 points. Garrett Anderson added 13, and Riley Holmseth nine, including two of BEA’s three 3-pointers.

The Bucs had 34 rebounds to MCW’s 25. Lee grabbed nine, while Anderson added eight.

Brady Anderson led in the assists category with five of the Bucs’ 18 total. He also had seven points.

Garrett Anderson and Holmseth each had three steals to lead BEA.

The Bucs, now 13-2 on the season and ranked ninth in Class AA, host USC here on Tuesday, and St. James on Friday.