Garrett Anderson

Blue Earth Area used a balanced scoring attack to defeat the Maple River Eagles 68-66 in boys basketball action Thursday night.

The victory for the host Buccaneers should give them the inside track to gaining a No. 1 seed in the Sub-section tournament. Blue Earth Area improved their record to 18-4 while the Eagles fell to 20-5. The Bucs also remain undefeated against the other teams in their Sub-section.

Nate Carr scored the first basket off the opening tip in what would be a fast paced first half that provided great entertainment for the fans. Blue Earth Area held the lead through most of the opening stanza with six points being their largest margin. The Eagles’ biggest lead of the half came with 2:03 on the clock when Cole Minks basket put the Eagles up 38-36.

The Bucs battled back to outscore the Eagles 8-3 in the final two minutes as Brady Anderson’s shot at the buzzer gave the Bucs a 44-39 halftime lead.

Maple River was able to tie the game twice in the second half but never took the lead. The last tie came with 5:33 left in the game, tying the game at 61-61. The Bucs rebounded with six straight points to take a 67-61 lead and then held on for the 2-point victory.

“Jared Smith came off the bench to give us a real offensive punch tonight,” comments Bucs mentor Gary Holmseth.

Garrett Anderson, who scored his 1,000th career point during the contest, finished with 16 points for the night. Nate Carr also scored 16, Nick Lee added 15, Brady Anderson finished with 10 points.

To read more of this story, see this week’s Register.