There wasn’t much on the line when the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers traveled to Mapleton last Thursday night to take on the Maple River Eagles for their final game of the regular season. 

The conference race was over, with BEA a co-champion, and Sub-section seedings had been announced, with the Bucs No. 1 and the Eagles No. 4.

The Eagles showed they will be contenders in the post-season as they defeated the Bucs by 10 points, 50-40.

Maple River led the entire game, taking an early 6-0 lead, then pushing it to 10-3.

Despite cold shooting and multiple turnovers, the Bucs got back to within two at 10-8. That rally was short-lived, however, as the Eagles hit three 3-pointers in a row to take a commanding 19-9 advantage. They led 21-13 at the half.

The Bucs made another stab at a rally, getting within three at 23-20.

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