Gabe Torres drives around a defender in the Bucs’ game against Waseca.

Blue Earth Area rallied from a 27-22 halftime deficit to defeat the host St. James Saints 68-59 in Big South Conference boys basketball action on Tuesday night, Feb. 15.

The victory snapped a four-game losing skid for the Bucs, who improved their overall record to 9-11 with four games remaining in the regular season.

St. James opened the second half with a 3-pointer to increase their lead to 30-22. A steal by Jack Norman led to a fastbreak basket by Gabe Torres as BEA began to chip away at the Saints’ lead.

Another steal, this time by Austin Skaden, resulted in a trey by Ashton Lloyd to cut the Saints’ advantage to 30-27 with 15 minutes remaining in the game.

Torres hit a jump shot in the lane and BEA now trailed 30-29. Torres then put the Maroon and Gold into the lead 32-30 when he swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

The Saints responded with their own basket from outside the arc to reclaim the lead at 33-32. They increased thier lead to 35-32 with a bucket from inside the lane before Ashton Lloyd’s 3-pointer knotted the score at 35-35.

Torres, who poured in a career-high 35 points, drove the basket for a layup to put the Bucs in front for good at 37-35 with 11 minutes showing on the game clock.

For the night, Torres made 12 of 19 field goals, including two 3-pointers, and scored on nine of his 10 free-throw attempts. His 10 rebounds gave him a double-double and he also had five assists.

Lloyd also recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Skaden tallied six points while pulling down seven rebounds and pocketing three steals.

Jack Norman finished with six points, five assists and five steals.

As a team, BEA made 17 of 33 two-point field goal attempts and six of their 17 shots from 3-point range. They went to the free-throw line 25 times and made 16 of their shots.

BEA had a 42-34 edge in rebounds over St. James.

After hosting the Jackson County Central Huskies on Saturday night, Feb. 19, the Bucs travel to Medford on Thursday, Feb. 24 to take on the Tigers in a non-conference contest.

NRHEG 64, BEA 57

Blue Earth Area surrendered a 35-27 halftime lead and the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Panthers left the BEA gymnasium with a 64-57 triumph in a non-conference boys basketball game on Feb. 14.

The Bucs shot well from the field, making 14 of their 28 attempts from inside of the arc and eight of their 25 3-point shots.

NRHEG was 23 of 46 on their 2-point shots and they made four of their 12 3-point attempts.

The Panthers held a 44-26 advantage in rebounds.

Leading the Bucs in scoring was Ashton Lloyd with 24 points. Abram Kokos also reached double figures with 10 points. Luke Norman tallied seven, Gabe Torres had six while Jack Norman and Austin Skaden each had five.

Lloyd and Jack Norman each recorded seven rebounds with Lloyd also being credited with five steals.

Waseca 57, BEA 51

Blue Earth Area trailed the visiting Waseca Bluejays 35-30 at the intermission of their boys basketball game on Feb. 11.

The Bucs burst into the lead in the opening minutes of the second half with an 11-1 scoring run to go up 41-36.

However, foul trouble and the Jays got the best of the Maroon and Gold and Waseca went home with a 57-51 victory.

Despite BEA’s fast start in the second half, Waseca kept their composure and rallied to tie the score at 41-41.

Trailing 43-42, the Jays hit a trey to take a 45-43 lead and then added a 2-pointer to go up 47-43.

Ashton Lloyd’s 3-pointer brought BEA back to within one point of Waseca at 47-46.

The Jays increased their lead to 51-46 but the Bucs’ Gabe Torres knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a two-point game with Waseca holding a 51-49 advantage.

After getting a defensive stop, Torres drove the lane and maneuvered his way through the defense for a twisting layup to tie the game at 51-51 with 4:15 remaining in the game.

Unfortunately for the Bucs, the Jays would close out the game on a 6-0 scoring run to go home with the 57-51 victory.

The first half was a back-and-forth battle with eight lead changes in the first nine minutes.

Waseca was leading 35-27 as the clock was winding down to end the opening stanza, but Lloyd’s 3-pointer at the buzzer brought BEA within five points heading into the final 18 minutes of play.

The Bucs made 11 of 27 (41 percent) 2-point attempts and were nine for 24 (38 percent) on their 3-point shots. BEA made two of their three attempts at the charity stripe.

The Jays were 18 of 29 (62 percent) from inside of the arc and 3 of 18 (17 percent) from outside of the arc. They had 20 free throw attempts and made 12.

BEA had 32 rebounds to Waseca’s 26. The Bucs committed 18 turnovers while the Jays only had nine.

Lloyd finished the game with 13 points and nine rebounds. Torres had 12 points and five rebounds.

Abe Kokos also tallied 12 points while Jack Norman added nine points and nine rebounds. Austin Skaden had eight points.