Caden Juba, shown in a game against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, was one of three sophomores to see extensive action on the court for BEA this year.

The No. 10-seeded Blue Earth Area Buccaneers traveled to Glencoe on Thursday night, March 6, looking to upset the No. 2-seeded Glencoe-Silver Lake Panthers in the Section 2AA boys basketball playoffs. In what turned out to be a very competitive contest, the Panthers held on to defeat the Bucs 77-71 to advance to the semifinal round of the tournament.

BEA started the game strong with four different players making shots from behind the arc in the opening three minutes of the contest. Threes by Sully Dahlberg, Gage Barker, Will Bromeland and Branson Hauskins helped the Bucs take an early 12-5 lead.

Unfortunately for BEA, Bromeland picked up his second foul of the evening with 14:53 to play in the opening stanza and spent much of the first half on the bench.

A drive and basket by Barker with just over 14 minutes remaining in the first half gave the Maroon and Gold their largest lead of the night at 14-5.

The Panthers began to chip away at the Bucs’ lead and with 11 minutes to go until intermission a 3-pointer by GSL’s Lincoln Busse tied the game at 20-20.

Five consecutive points by the Panthers gave the home team a 25-20 lead. The Bucs responded with a baseline three by Dahlberg to cut the Panthers’ lead to two points. A steal by Caden Juba and subsequent pass to Dahlberg resulted in two more points and a 25-25 game.

GSL outscored BEA 14-2 over the next four minutes to go on top 39-27 with just under five minutes remaining in the opening half.

Bromeland, who had reentered the game, hit a pull-up jumper to get the Bucs’ deficit back down to 10 points before a three by the Panthers’ Ethan Sonju made the score 42-29 with less than four minutes to play until intermission.

Bromeland connected on a shot from outside the arc and Jacob Grandgenett followed with a three from the top of the key to pull the Bucs within six points of the Panthers at 42-35. BEA got no closer in the remainder of the first half and the teams headed into the break with GSL leading 46-37.

The Bucs pulled to within five points of the Panthers early in the first half before Bromeland picked up his third foul of the game when he was called for charging. Twenty seconds later Bromeland was called for a controversial charging call which sent the junior back to the bench with his fourth foul and 15:21 to play in the game.

BEA kept battling and Barker’s drive and basket at the 13:10 mark tied the game at 50-50. Seconds later GSL scored to regain the lead but the Bucs tied the game again when Juba made a back-door cut and Barker fed him the ball for an easy layup.

The Panthers broke the tie with five consecutive points to take a 57-52 lead over the Bucs. However, Hauskins swished two consecutive 3-pointers to give BEA the lead for the first time in the closing half at 58-57.

It was the last lead the Bucs would have in the game. The game remained close and with a minute and a half left to play, BEA trailed 73-69. However, they could not find the range to make enough shots and GSL held on for a 77-71 victory.

Both teams shot the ball well from inside the arc. The Bucs were 15-for-28 (53.6 percent) while the Panthers were 27-for-45 (60 percent).

BEA made 11 of their 30 (36.7 percent) 3-point attempts while GSL was 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) from outside the arc.

The Bucs were 8-for-10 (80 percent) from the free-throw line. The Panthers made eight of their 16 (50 percent) attempts from the charity stripe.

GSL scored 44 of their points from inside the paint compared to 28 for BEA.

The Panthers had a 33-32 edge in rebounding. The Bucs committed 18 turnovers while GSL had 10.

Dahlberg achieved a double-double with 25 points and ten rebounds. Barker closed out his high school career with 14 points and six rebounds and Hauskins added 12 points in his last game as a Buccaneer.

Barker led BEA in assists with four. Dahlberg finished with three.

GSL also had three players score in double digits. Busse finished with 19, Sonju tallied 15 and Trevor Engelmann finished with 14.

The Bucs finished the season with an overall record of 13 wins and 14 losses.

GSL was defeated in the semifinal round by Belle Plaine, 81-57.