Gabe Torres, above, drives to the basket.

Ashton Lloyd and Abram Kokos each sank a 3-pointer for Blue Earth Area in the opening minutes of their basketball game to stake the Bucs to an early 6-0 lead against the visiting St. Peter Saints on Dec. 7.

It was a lead the Bucs would hold for most of the first half. However, the Saints would rally and overtake the Maroon and Gold late in the opening stanza and go into the locker room at halftime with a 34-30 lead, on their way to a 67-59 win over BEA.

St. Peter began the second half with an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 12 points at 42-30 before Lloyd scored the first point of the second half for BEA when he was fouled and sank one of two free throws.

The Saints added to their lead and it appeared they might run away with an easy victory.

Led by reserve guards Waylen Douglas and Austin Skaden, BEA came up with some steals and started chipping away at St. Peter’s lead.

The Bucs eventually whittled the Saints’ lead down to five points and had their chances to cut the deficit even further, but could not get the ball to go through the hoop.

With the game clock closing in on two minutes remaining in the contest, BEA was forced to foul to get the ball back, but St. Peter held on for the eight-point win.

Lloyd led the Bucs with 20 points. He also had eight rebounds and three assists. Kokos contributed 14 points. Jack Norman added eight points while leading the team in rebounding with 10.

Skaden ended the game with four steals which he used to score six points. Douglas also finished the game with six points. Gabe Torres led the team with eight assists.

In team statistics, BEA held a 38-36 rebounding edge over the Saints. Both teams had four steals and St. Peter blocked four BEA shots.

The Bucs shot 37 percent from the field, 23 percent from three-point range and 62 percent at the free-throw line.

BEA traveled to New Ulm last Thursday, Dec. 9, to take on Minnesota Valley Lutheran in a non-conference game and then battled Windom on Saturday, Dec. 11, as part of the Big South Conference Showcase.

The boys travel to Wells to take on county rival United South Central on Tuesday, Dec. 14.