Bucs move over .500 with two wins
Bucs outlast Saints 69-65 before downing the Eagles 75-64

Ashton Lloyd (23) is the leading scorer for BEA.
The Blue Earth Area boys basketball team picked up two wins during their last week of play.
They defeated St. James Area 69-65 at home on Jan. 13 to even their record at five wins and five losses. Then, on Jan. 18, they went on the road to play Windom Area and pocketed a 75-64 victory over the Eagles to improve their overall record to 6-5.
BEA 75, Windom Area 64
Ashton Lloyd had another double-double and Gabe Torres continued to show improvement in the Buccaneers’ 11-point, 75-64 win over the host Eagles.
Lloyd led all players with 24 points while pulling down 18 rebounds during the game. He also led the team with five assists.
He connected on three of five of his shots from outside of the arc and was 5-for-12 on his two-point attempts. Lloyd also made five of his six attempts at the free-throw line.
Torres contributed 17 points, had five rebounds and four assists.
Blue Earth Area took a 13-point lead into the second half after outscoring Windom Area 38-25 in the opening stanza.
The Eagles outscored the Bucs 39-37 in the second half but could not overtake the Maroon and Gold.
BEA made 10 of their 20 three-point attempts and 18 of their 39 shots from inside of the arc. The team went to the free-throw line 13 times and made nine of their shots.
In addition to Lloyd and Torres, Austin Skaden also reached double figures in scoring with 11 points. Skaden connected on all three of his three-point attempts while going 1-for-2 shooting 2-pointers.
Jack Norman tallied nine points while Waylen Douglas and Abram Kokos each had six. Luke Norman finished with two points.
The Bucs outrebounded the Eagles 40-20.
BEA travels to St. Peter on Monday, Jan. 24, to take on the Saints in a Big South Conference game.
Look for the results of that contest in next week’s edition of The Faribault County Register.
BEA 69,
St. James Area 65
After losing their last three games by a combined total of 10 points, the Blue Earth Area Bucs won a close game when they defeated the visiting St. James Saints 69-65 on Thursday, Jan. 13.
The teams were tied 30-30 at halftime.
Ashton Lloyd scored the Bucs’ first 10 points of the second half to put the home team on top 40-36.
Four consecutive points by the Saints tied the score at 40-40.
The game was tied at 40-40 when Austin Skaden gave BEA the lead for good by swishing back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Bucs a 48-42 lead.
BEA’s lead fluctuated between five and 10 points until the final minute. The Bucs were leading 68-61 before the Saints scored the final four points of the game to make the final 69-65 in favor of the Maroon and Gold.
The Bucs began the game by jumping out to a 5-0 lead only to watch the Saints rally to go on top 14-9.
BEA eventually narrowed St. James Area’s advantage to two points when Abe Kokos hit a baseline 3-pointer to cut the Saints’ lead to 21-19.
However, St. James scored the next five points to increase their advantage to 26-19.
Three 3-pointers, two by Skaden and one by Lloyd, plus a field goal by Gabe Torres, enabled the Bucs to storm back to tie the game 30-30 at halftime.
BEA made 14 of their 22 two-point shots (63.6 percent), 10 of 29 3-pointers (34.5 percent) and 11of 16 free throws (68.8 percent).
The Bucs held a 40-36 advantage over the Saints in rebounding.
Lloyd recorded a double double with 28 points and 15 rebounds. Skaden tallied 15 points, Torres had 13 and Jack Norman had eight to lead BEA on the offensive end of the court.
Lloyd also had 15 rebounds. Torres and Jack Norman each pulled down seven boards while Luke Norman had four.
Torres completed his fine all-around effort by contributing nine assists and three steals.
Luke Norman also added four assists to the Bucs’ winning effort.