Buccaneer boys sweep tourney games
Defeat Rebels before pulling away from Wolverines late in the game

BEA’s Sully Dahlberg (15), above, takes the ball to the basket against USC during the BEA Holiday Basketball Tournament.
The final game of the Blue Earth Area Boys Holiday Basketball Tournament featured the host Buccaneers taking on the Sibley East Wolverines on Saturday, Dec. 28.
BEA had defeated USC 75-31 on the opening day of the tournament while the Wolverines needed two overtime periods to dispatch the Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/ Truman Jaguars 66-57 in their opening-round game.
The Bucs held a slim 30-27 lead at the half and then fell behind in the opening minutes of the second half before rallying for a 67-58 victory.
The Bucs got off to a good start in the contest with Gage Barker sandwiching two 3-pointers around a Will Bromeland layup to give BEA an early 8-2 lead.
The Maroon and Gold would build their lead to as large as seven points during the first half, but the Wolverines outscored the Bucs 7-3 in the final two minutes of the opening stanza to send the teams into the intermission with the Bucs on top 30-27.
Sibley East scored the first three points of the second half to tie the game at 30-30.
Barker’s fourth 3-pointer of the night momentarily restored BEA’s lead but five consecutive points by the Wolverines gave the visitors their first lead of the game at 35-33.
Two free throws by the Bucs’ center, Peter Fletcher, knotted the score at 35-35 with just under 15 minutes to play in the game.
The two teams would trade being in the lead during the next four minutes.
Trailing 44-43, the Bucs’ Branson Hauskins nailed a shot from behind the arc with 9:50 remaining in the game to put BEA out front for good at 46-44.
Three-pointers by Barker and Will Bromeland helped the Bucs extend their advantage to 52-46.
Leading 59-51 with just under five minutes showing on the game clock, the Bucs scored six of their last eight points in the game from the free-throw line and held off the Wolverines to claim the 67-58 victory.
BEA was 8-for-18 (44.4 percent) from 2-point range and 12-for-29 (41.4 percent) on their 3-point attempts. The Bucs went to the charity stripe 21 times and made 15 of their shots (71.4 percent).
Sibley East made 50 percent of their 2-point shots, making 20 of 40 attempts. They were 5-of-17 from outside the arc (29.4 percent). The Wolverines attempted five free throws and made three (60 percent).
The Bucs scored 16 of their points inside the paint compared to 30 for the Wolverines.
BEA held a 36-27 edge in rebounds. The Bucs committed 17 turnovers compared to 13 for the Wolverines.
Leading BEA in scoring was Barker with 25 points. The senior guard was hot from outside the arc where he made five of his seven attempts. Bromeland finished the game with 16 points, Hauskins added nine and Dahlberg finished with seven.
Bromeland and Barker each had seven rebounds, Fletcher and Dahlberg each had six and Jacob Grandgennet had four.
Dahlberg led the Bucs in assists with three while Barker led the team in steals with three.
The victory improves BEA’s record to 6-2 while the loss gives Sibley East a record of 3-4.
BEA 75, USC 31
The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers basketball team got off to a bit of a slow start when they hosted the United South Central Rebels in the opening round of the BEA Holiday Basketball Tournament on Dec. 27.
But, after an early timeout and some words from Bucs’ coach Colby Swanston, the Maroon and Gold began to turn things around and ended up with a 75-31 victory over the Rebels.
The Rebels controlled the opening tip and set up their offense. USC worked the ball inside to their big man, 6-foot-6 center Wyatt Sparks, who banked his shot in off the glass for a 2-0 Rebels’ lead.
After BEA missed a shot on their end of the court, USC came down and added three more points to their total courtesy of a 3-pointer by Dylan Stephens.
USC’s Zayden Schott stole BEA’s inbound pass but could not put the ball through the hoop so the score remained 5-0 in the Rebels’ favor.
The Bucs still could not find the range and USC took control of the ball once again.
Stephens made it 7-0 when he scored off of his own offensive rebound. The Rebels missed the chance to go on top 9-0 when they once again stole the ball from the Bucs but missed a shot from close range.
BEA finally got on the board on their next trip down the court when Branson Hauskins connected on a 3-pointer with 15:45 showing on the clock.
After Hauskins’ basket, BEA coach Colby Swanson immediately called a timeout and let his team know he wasn’t happy with their carelessness in taking care of the ball.
Following the timeout, USC’s Dylan Bonsack’s bank shot increased the Rebels’ lead to 9-3.
BEA was still trailing 11-5 when a block by Sully Dahlberg seemed to ignite a spark in his teammates.
The Bucs crashed the offensive boards and on their third try from behind the arc they finally scored when Will Bromeland’s shot sailed through the nets to cut the Rebels’ lead to 11-8.
Another shot from close range by Sparks made the score 13-8 in favor of USC.
At that point, BEA went on a 21-4 run which began with a steal and layup by Gage Barker. Next, Dahlberg dove to the floor for a loose ball and threw it ahead to Caden Juba for another layup that cut USC’s advantage to 13-12.
Two drives and layups by Bromeland resulted in the Bucs taking their first lead of the game at 16-13. However, the Rebels’ CJ Shuman scored consecutive baskets in the paint to put USC back in front 17-16.
A 3-pointer by Hauskins, a steal and layup by Juba, two more 3-pointers by Hauskins and a runner by Dahlberg propelled BEA to a 29-17 lead and set the tone for the rest of the game.
By the time the buzzer sounded ending the first half, the Bucs were in front 40-23.
The Bucs outscored their county rival by a 35-8 margin in the second half to make the final score 75-31.
BEA finished the game by making 20 of their 32 (62.5 percent) shots from inside the arc while going 10-for-31 (32.3 percent) from outside the arc. The Bucs went to the free-throw line seven times and made five of their shots (71.4 percent).
USC was 10-for-26 (38.5 percent) on their 2-point attempts and 2-for-15 (13.3 percent on their 3-point attempts. They made 50 percent of their shots from the charity stripe by converting five of their 10 attempts.
BEA scored 38 of their points in the paint compared to 18 for USC.
The Bucs had a 38-26 rebounding advantage over USC and committed 13 turnovers to 25 for the Rebels.
Barker was the leading scorer for BEA with 21 points. He made five of his six 2-point shots, three of his five attempts from 3-point range and both of his free throw tries.
Bromeland tallied 18 points and Hauskins also reached double figures in scoring with17.
Barker and Dahlberg led the team in rebounds with five each.
Juba and Barker each had three steals while Dahlberg and Juba let the team in assists with three each.
Sparks was the only USC player to hit double figures in scoring with 10. Bonsack added six and Stephens added five.
Schumann and Sparks led the Rebels in rebounding with four each.
Bonsack led USC with four steals.
ML/GHEC/T 63, USC 45
United South Central’s second half scoring woes continued when they faced the Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman boys on day No. 2 of the Blue Earth Area Holiday Basketball Tournament.
The Rebels led the Jaguars at halftime 31-27, but could only muster 14 second-half points which led to a 63-45 win for ML/GHEC/T.
It was the second straight night that USC struggled to put points on the board in the second half of a basketball game. The previous evening the Rebels were held to only eight points in the final 18 minutes of play when they faced Blue Earth Area in the opening round of the tournament.
“Dylan Stephens hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give us a 31-27 lead at the half against the Jaguars,” USC coach Adam Walker said. “We started the second half strong with a quick basket. However, the Jaguars held us to only 12 more second half points for a 63-45 win. That is two straight games with rough second halves that we will have to fix going forward.”
Leading scorer for USC against ML/GHEC/T was Zayden Schott with 13 points. Dylan Bonsack and Wyatt Sparks each tallied nine points while CJ Schumann and Dylan Stephens each had five.
USC’s record now stands at 2-6. The Rebels traveled to Randolph on Jan. 3 to play the Rockets. They will return to their home court on Jan. 7, to host Madelia and will host Nicollet on Jan. 9.