BEA’s Jack Norman waits for the JCC defender to fly on by before going up for two points in the Bucs’ 71-60 win over the Huskies.

Grit, determination and a lot of free throws helped the host Blue Earth Area Buccaneers defeat the Jackson County Central Huskies 71-60 on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

BEA was leading JCC 50-49 with 5:55 left in the contest when Austin Skaden and Abe Kokos knocked down consecutive 3-pointers to increase the Bucs’ lead to 56-49 with just over five minutes remaining in the contest.

The Bucs would not score another field goal for the rest of the game. However, they made 15 of 22 free throw attempts down the home stretch to claim the 11-point victory.

“This was our most complete game of the season,” BEA head coach Colby Swanson said after the game. “For 36 minutes we defended well, shared the ball and limited our turnovers.”

Ashton Lloyd led the Bucs’ balanced scoring attack with 17 points while four of his teammates also scored in double figures. Kokos and Gage Barker each tallied 11 points while Max Loge and Skaden each finished with 10. Jack Norman was one point shy of double figures with nine points.

Swanson, however, wanted to talk about Norman’s defense.

“A big key to our victory was Jack’s individual defensive effort against JCC’s Roman Voss, who is an outstanding player,” Swanson commented.

Voss scored 13 points but had to work hard for every shot he took.

The two teams played a very even first half. Barker’s 3-pointer with 43 seconds left before intermission gave the Bucs a 31-30 lead as the teams headed to their locker rooms for the half.

BEA got off to a good start in the second half with Kokos hitting Lloyd with a back-door pass for a layup and a 33-30 lead.

With 13:21 remaining in the game, a 3-pointer by JCC’s Travis Rogotzke, who led all players with 21 points, gave the Huskies their first lead of the second half at 35-34.

Barker’s drive and subsequent layup momentarily put the Bucs on top 36-35 before a traditional 3-point play by Voss gave the Huskies their final lead of the game at 38-36.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Lloyd and Barker allowed the Bucs to take a 42-38 lead, and although the Huskies would come close, BEA never trailed again.

Five different Bucs – Loge, Lloyd, Skaden, Kokos and Barker – stepped to the charity stripe in the closing minutes and made enough free throws to preserve the Bucs win.

BEA made 11 of their 23 (48 percent) shots from inside the arc while JCC made 12 of their 30 (40 percent) attempts.

The Bucs converted on 10 of their 24 shots outside the arc compared to nine of 24 for the Huskies.

The Maroon and Gold finished the game converting on 19 of their 29 free-throw attempts while the Huskies made nine of their 17 free throw shots.

BEA won the battle on the boards with 37 rebounds while JCC finished with 30.

Turnovers were very even with the Bucs having 13 miscues to 11 for the Huskies.

In addition to leading BEA in scoring, Lloyd was also the team leader in rebounds with 21. Norman had five rebounds including four on the offensive boards.

Barker led the Bucs with six assists followed by Lloyd with four.

The win over their Big South Conference opponent improved the Bucs’ overall record to 9-5 while the loss dropped the Huskies’ record to 8-5.

BEA traveled to Fairmont on Friday, Jan. 27, to play the Cardinals. They will be back on their home court on Tuesday, Jan. 31, when they host the St. Peter Saints. Look for stories on those games in next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register.

MVL 80, BEA 60

The Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers came to Blue Earth on Friday, Jan. 20, boasting a 9-3 record and riding a four-game winning streak. The host Buccaneers came into the game with an 8-4 record, having lost four out of their last five games.

MVL held a 34-32 lead at the end of the first half and then pulled away in the second half to defeat BEA 80-60.

Each team took 35 shots from inside the arc and had similar results with the Chargers sinking 20 of their attempts while the Bucs made 19.

However, MVL made 10 of their 27 shots from outside the arc while BEA took 30 long-range shots and made six.

The Chargers also had more success from the free throw line where they made 10 of 12 tries. The Bucs went to the charity stripe nine times and made four shots.

MVL won the battle on the boards with 41 rebounds compared to 32 for BEA.

Turnovers were very even with the Bucs committing 10 miscues to the Chargers’ 11.

BEA had eight steals compared to six for MVL.

Individually, the Bucs were led by Ashton Lloyd with 23 points and seven rebounds. Abe Kokos had 15 points and Jack Norman pulled down six rebounds.

Norman and Max Loge each had three assists and Loge and Gage Barker each contributed two steals.