Boys defend their BEA Tourney title
Struggle against Jaguars, but play well to defeat Wolverines
Blue Earth Area made almost as many 3-pointers as 2-pointers on their way to an 84-67 victory over the Sibley East Wolverines in the championship game of the BEA Holiday Basketball Tournament on Dec. 29. It was the second straight year the Bucs won the title.
BEA had defeated Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain 64-63 in the opening round of the tournament on Dec. 28, while Sibley East downed United South Central 71-62 in their opening game.
The Bucs connected on 16 of their 23 shots (70 percent) from inside the arc while making 15 of their 40 attempts (38 percent) from outside of the arc.
Sibley East’s ability to hit the outside shot allowed them to hang close to BEA in the first half. The Wolverines made a total of nine 3-pointers during the game including seven during the opening 18 minutes.
A 3-pointer by BEA’s Gage Barker helped the Bucs open up a 12-4 lead five minutes into the game. However, over the next five minutes and 30 seconds, Sibley East scored 19 points, including 15 on five 3-pointers which enabled the Wolverines to take a 23-20 lead with 7:34 remaining in the first half.
Will Bromeland had a chance to tie the score when he was fouled while making a 2-point shot. His free throw attempt was no good but Buccaneer teammate Max Loge came up with the offensive rebound which led to Bromeland sinking a 3-pointer to put BEA on top 25-23.
Four straight points by Sibley East put the Wolverines back in the lead 27-25 before a 3-pointer by BEA’s Sully Dahlberg put the Maroon and Gold in front for good 28-27.
Another 3-pointer by Bromeland, followed by a steal and layup by Barker, increased the Bucs’ advantage to 33-27. Next, BEA’s Jacob Grandgenett stole the ball and passed it ahead to Barker who went in for the layup while drawing a foul. Barker made the free throw to give the Bucs a nine-point lead at 36-27.
Both teams would score nine more points during the last three minutes of the opening half to make the score at intermission 45-36 in favor of BEA.
BEA scored the first six points of the second half to take a 15-point lead at 51-36 and cause the Wolverines to call a timeout.
The break in the action was the only thing keeping the Bucs from scoring. After the timeout, BEA’s Branson Hauskins swished a 3-pointer before Bromeland added two more points on a drive to increase the Bucs’ lead to 20 points.
Sibley East finally broke their scoring drought three minutes and 15 seconds into the second half with a 3-pointer, but Bromeland answered with another long-range bomb and BEA was never threatened on their way to their 84-67 victory.
Leading scorer for the Bucs was Bromeland with 39 points followed by Barker with 22 and Hauskins with eight.
Hauskins led the team with six rebounds. Loge had five rebounds and also led the Bucs with five assists.
BEA had 11 steals, led by Bromeland with four.
With the win the Bucs improve their record to 7-1 while the Wolverines suffered their seventh loss against two wins.
The Bucs return to action on Monday, Jan. 8, when they host the Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Knights. Look for results of that game in next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register.
BEA 64, T/ML/GHEC 63
Will Bromeland’s baseline drive and subsequent basket with six seconds remaining in the game gave the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers a 64-63 victory over the Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain Jaguars in the opening game of the BEA Holiday Tournament on Dec. 28.
The Bucs led most of the game and were up by as many as 14 points with eight and a half minutes to play in the first half before the Jaguars rallied to make the half time score 28-24 with BEA out in front.
The Maroon and Gold seemed to be in control in the second half. Leading 51-44 with 7:48 left to play, Jacob Grandgenett made a free throw before scoring on a reverse layup to give the Bucs a 54-44 lead. Noah Laehn’s baseline drive and layup put the home team on top 56-44 with just over six minutes remaining.
However, the Jaguars scored the next eight points to trim BEA’s lead to 56-52 with 4:32 left in regulation time.
Two free throws by Gage Barker finally broke the Bucs’ dry spell and increased their lead to 58-52.
T/ML/GHEC scored the next five points and BEA’s lead was down to one point at 58-57 with 1:57 showing on the game clock.
A free throw by Grandgenett gave the Bucs a 2-point cushion at 59-57, but a 3-pointer by the Jaguars’ Elijah Jensen had BEA trailing 60-59 with one minute left to play.
Bromeland’s 3-pointer put the Bucs back on top 62-60 but Jensen drilled another shot from outside the arc to give the Jaguars a 63-62 lead with 24 seconds left in the game.
BEA called timeout with 12.9 seconds on the clock to set up the game-winning shot by Bromeland and preserve the victory for the Bucs.
Three BEA players reached double figures in scoring led by Bromeland with 27. Barker tallied 14 and Grandgenett finished with 13.
Max Loge led the Bucs in rebounds with seven while also recording a team-leading seven assists.