Cameron Anderson soars to the basket for a dunk against the Panthers.

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers built a 19-point first-half lead against the Glencoe-Silver Lake Panthers only to watch it evaporate midway through the closing stanza.

However the Maroon and Gold were able to regroup and treat their fans to an entertaining 81-73 victory.

The game, played Monday night, Feb. 8, saw the Bucs score the final 12 points of the opening half to go up 47-28 at the intermission.

Leading 35-28, Will Howard found BEA center Sam Keister underneath for an easy basket and a 37-28 lead with 2:08 until half time.

A 3-pointer by Braden Gudahl put the Bucs up 40-28.

Next, Cameron Anderson sank two free throws. The senior forward then stole the ball at mid-court on the Panthers’ ensuing possession and went in for a “Cam Jam” to increase the BEA lead to 44-28.

Anderson was not done. With two seconds remaining in the half, he connected from behind the arc for three more points and a 47-28 Bucs’ lead.

The opening minutes of the second half were a different story.

GSL outscored BEA 23-5 to begin the second half and cut the Bucs’ lead to one point at 52-51.

The Panthers took their first lead since early in the first half with 8:15 remaining in the game. Mitchel Jaskosiak sank a shot from outside of the arc for three of his team-leading 28 points to give GSL a 58-57 lead.

A baseline jumper by Anderson put the Bucs back on top. Ashton Lloyd sank a 3-pointer, Austin Thielfoldt hit a 10-foot jumper and Gavin Storbeck sank a pair of free throws to put BEA on top for good at 66-58.

GSL scored four points to cut BEA’s lead to 66-62. However, an ill-timed technical foul on the Panthers gave the Bucs four more points.

The technical occurred when Anderson was fouled going to the basket and a Panther’s player tossed the ball in the air and it went over the backboard before landing on the court.

Anderson made both shots from the technical and then sank both free throws and the Bucs were up 70-62.

GSL scored five straight points to pull within three points of BEA but the Bucs answered with eight unanswered points to take a 78-67 lead and put the game out of reach.

BEA shot 65.4 percent from inside the arc and 42.9 percent from outside the arc.

The Bucs made 20 of their 30 free-thow attempts.

The rebounds were very even with BEA holding a 36 to 35 edge.

Anderson was the top scorer in the game with 31 points. Gudahl finished with 16, Lloyd had 12, Thielfoldt tallied 10 and Keister added eight.

Gudahl pulled down eight rebounds, Anderson finished with seven and Gavin Storbeck had six.

The boys traveled to St. James on Friday, Feb. 12, to take on the Saints. Look for the results of that game in next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register.

Waseca 72, BEA 47

Blue Earth Area took on the Class AA No. 1-ranked Waseca Bluejays in boys basketball on Friday, Feb. 5, in Blue Earth, and came up on the wrong end of a 72-47 score.

The talent-laden Bluejays jumped out to an early double-digit lead, but the feisty Buccaneers hustled their way back to pull within six points of their opponents late in the opening half. However, Waseca scored the final four points before intermission to take a 10-point, 35-25 lead into the locker room at half time.

The Bluejays started the second half strong and quickly pulled away from the Bucs to put the game out of reach.

BEA shot over 48 percent on 2-pointers, making 14 of 29 shots. Waseca shot 59.5 percent, sinking 25 of 42 attempts.

Neither team shot the ball well from behind the arc. The Bucs and Bluejays each made five long-range baskets. BEA attempted 21 3-pointers and Waseca attempted 19.

Waseca outrebounded BEA 36-25 and scored 24 transition points compared to only nine for the Bucs.

Braden Gudahl led the Bucs with 13 points. Austin Thielfoldt had eight, Sam Keister seven and Cameron Anderson six.

Keister led the team with six rebounds followed by Thielfoldt with five.

It was the first loss of the season for BEA, who began the season with six wins. Waseca improved to 7-0 on the year.