What a difference one night makes.

In the Blue Earth Area Buccaneer boys basketball game last Monday night, Dallas Barslou had just four points. As a team, the Bucs only sank two three-point shots against St. Peter.

The next night, Tuesday, in Wells, the Bucs fired in 10 long range bombs against the USC Rebels and Barslou had eight of those.

The senior guard led the Bucs to a hard-fought win over the Rebels, 78-72. Barslou had 32 points in the game.

The game was a classic battle between the two cross-county rivals.

The Bucs scored the first points of the game on a Colin Squiers basket, but USC’s Steve Voigt quickly responded with a put back after a rebound and the game was tied at 2-2. It was an omen of things to come.

The Rebels Walker Lindy hit a three pointer for a USC lead, but Barslou came right back with his first three of the night and the game was tied again at 5-all.

It would be tied again at 7-7 and 9-9.

The Bucs led 13-9, but USC went ahead 14-13 on a traditional three-point play (basket, foul and free throw) by Voigt. The Rebels lead grew to 16-13 on a Lindy put back shot.

That was a short-lived USC lead as Barslou’s second three pointer of the night tied the game once more at 16-16.

BEA’s Luke Monson, back in action after sitting out several games with an injury, sparked the Bucs with six points and the lead increased to 13 points at 33-20.

The Rebels ate away at the lead, however, and the score stood at 38-30 at the half-time buzzer.

Points by Brandyn Olsen and another Barslou three pushed BEA’s lead to 15, 45-30, to start the second half. The Rebels cut it back to a 10 point lead, but the Bucs built it back to as many as 16.

With the score 56-41 in favor of the Buccaneers, the Rebels made their move, going on a 9-0 run and cutting the Buc lead to five at 56-50.

A Barslou three put BEA back up by 10 at 60-50, but the Rebels came back again, this time closing the gap to three at 64-61.

Barslou’s eighth three of the night gave BEA a cushion at 73-64, but the Rebels responded with a three of their own. They had six in the game.

BEA’s Olsen and Barslou hit some free throws in the last minute of the game to put the Bucs up 78-69 with nine seconds left.

One more USC three pointer made the final score 78-72 and the battle was over.

Besides Barslou’s 32 points, the Bucs were led by Olsen’s 19 and Squier’s 10. Olsen also had seven assists, Barslou five.

Monson added nine points in his return game, coming in off the bench. He also had seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

The Bucs made 10 of 16 free throw attempts in the game and were 29 of 42 from the floor.

USC was led by Cole Stenzel who had 19 points and Walker Lundy who had 15.

Pederson added 13 and Voigt 11, Allis eight.

The Rebels were 10 of 21 from the line and 28 of 45 from the floor.

USC had the rebounding edge, 27 to 23. BEA also had more turnovers than USC, 16 to 8.

The win brought the Bucs season record to .500, at 6-6. They are 1-4 in the South Central Conference.

This week BEA hosts St. Peter on Thursday and Hayfield on Saturday.

St. Peter 80, BEA 53

A night of shooting as cold as the temperatures outside doomed the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers boys basketball team last Monday night when they traveled to St. Peter.

But while the Bucs’ shots were off the mark, the Saints were dead on and had four players in double figures.

The BEA Buccaneers fell to the St. Peter Saints, 80-53.

The Bucs had a 37 percent accuracy for shots from the floor, while the Saints were hitting at a 53 percent ratio. And, both teams took nearly the same amount of shots 57 for the Buccaneers and 58 for the Saints.

St. Peter jumped out to a 11-3 lead early, then expanded it to 15-7.

A three-point shot by Colin Squiers and a basket by Isaac Darrington brought the Bucs back to within three at 15-12, but they would get no closer.

A Brandyn Olsen shot also got the Buccaneers within three at 17-14, but after that the Saints started to build on a lead more and more.

Scoring by Olsen and Steven Plocker kept the Bucs close, with the Saints ahead by just seven at the half time buzzer, 32-35. BEA scored the first basket of the second half to cut the margin to five, but St. Peter exploded for the next 11 points and grabbed a big 43-27 lead.

The Bucs were down by 23 points at 58-35 when Squiers hit his second three of the game, but the Saints countered with a three point play of their own, hitting a basket, getting fouled and sinking the free throw.

The Bucs could not crack into Saints big lead and trailed by over 20 points the rest of the game.

Darrington, who had the first five Buccaneer points in the game, had a double-double on the night. He led in scoring with 17 points and added 13 rebounds.

Olsen added 13 points for the Bucs and six assists, while Squiers and Plocker tallied six points each.

The Bucs were 9 of 13 from the free-throw line for 69 percent, while the Saints were 13 of 22 from the charity stripe for 59 percent.

Fairmont 62, BEA 48

Despite getting one of their injured players back into action for the first time this season, the Blue Earth Area Buccaneer boys basketball team could not overcome the No. 10 state-ranked Fairmont Cardinals.

But, the Buccaneers played the Cardinals close, losing 62-48.

While they never led, the Bucs stayed close for much of the game, until the end when Fairmont was able to increase its lead.

Senior Isaac Darrington, who has been out with an injury, returned to action in the first half of the game.

However, the Bucs were still without junior center Luke Monson, still out with an injury.

BEA fell behind 17-8 early in the game, but peeled off six unanswered points to get within three at 17-14.

With shots by Brandyn Olsen, Dallas Barslou and Darrington, BEA was able to continue to stay within three, at 21-18 and 23-20.

After falling behind by seven at 27-20 when Fairmont hit their only three-pointer of the game, the Bucs’ Colin Squiers responded with a long range bomb for BEA.

Barslou hit a shot at the buzzer to make the half time score 28-25 in favor of Fairmont.

In the second half, Barslou hit the Buccaneer’s second and final three pointer to get BEA within two, at 32-30. It was as close as they could get the rest of the game.

The Cardinals increased their lead to 10 points with six minutes left in the game when a traditional three-point play (basket, foul and free throw) made the score 47-37.

The Cards made two more of the traditional threes one that put the score at 54-42 with 3:46 left in the game and another, with 2:24 on the clock, that made the score 59-43.

With both teams hitting the free-throw line in the final minutes, the score ended up at 62-48 in favor of the Cardinals.

Barslou led the Bucs in the scoring department with 14, including a 5 of 6 performance at the charity stripe.

Olsen added 12 points to the tally, as well as leading in rebounds with eight. He was 4 of 5 from the line.

Darrington added 11 points and seven rebounds.

As a team the Bucs were 14 of 44 for two-point shots, 2 of 11 from behind the arc.

They made 14 of 20 free throws for 70 percent.

The Cards were 23 of 37 for two point shots, 1 of 10 for threes and 13 of 20 from the line.

Mitch Pfingsten led Fairmont with 20 points and Josh Eversman added 13.

This week the Bucs host St. Peter on Thursday and Hayfield on Saturday.