Ryder Dutton gets behind the defense for an easy layup in BEA’s victory over TCU on Jan. 29. Look for details on that game in next week’s Faribault County Register.

The Waseca Bluejays defeated the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers 83-67 in boys basketball on Tuesday, Jan. 26, in Waseca. Although the final score says the host team won by 16 points, the game was very close until the final minutes.

The Bluejays got on the board first behind five points from Cyrett Long. Ironically, it would be the only five points Long would score in the game.

The Bucs tied the game on a two-pointer by Sully Dahlberg and a three-pointer by Will Bromeland.

A basket by BEA’s Peter Fletcher momentarily gave the Maroon and Gold a 7-5 lead before Waseca scored seven straight points to go out front 12-7.

The Bluejays maintained a lead through most of the remainder of the half until a traditional three-point play by Bromeland had the Bucs back on top 31-30 with just over one minute left to play in the opening stanza.

Waseca outscored BEA 4-2 in the final minute before intermission to hold a 34-33 lead at the half.

BEA kept the game close in the final 18 minutes but could never overtake Waseca.

The Bluejays maintained a six to 10 point lead through most of the second half until the last couple of minutes of the game when they put some more distance between themselves and the Bucs.

Both teams shot the ball well from inside the arc. The Bucs were 16-for-31 (51.6 percent) on their two-point attempts while the Bluejays were 25-for-47 (53.2 percent).

BEA was 10-for-23 (43.5 percent) from outside the arc compared to Waseca who was 7-for-25 (28 percent) on their three-point attempts.

The Bucs shot seven free throws and made five (71.4 percent. The Bluejays went to the charity stripe 16 times and made 12 of their shots (75 percent).

Waseca scored 46 of their points from the paint compared to 24 for BEA. The Bluejays had a 40-28 edge in rebounding.

The Bucs committed 20 turnovers to the Bluejays nine and had three steals to their opponents’ 11.

Bromeland led BEA with 27 points followed by Dahlberg with 20 and Tate Elzenga with seven.

Leading rebounder for the Bucs was Dahlberg with six while Bromeland and Fletcher each had five.

With the loss, BEA now has a record of nine wins against five losses.

After hosting Tri-City United on Jan. 29 and St. James Area on Jan. 30, the Bucs are scheduled to travel west to Luverne on Feb. 2 to take on the Cardinals in a game that was originally to be played on Jan. 23 but was postponed because of inclement weather.

Look for stories on those games in the Feb. 9 edition of the Faribault County Register.