Will Bromeland scores two of his 16 points against the Belle Plaine Tigers in the Section 2AA Tournament.

The Taylor Center, located on the campus of Minnesota State University – Mankato, was the site of the Section 2AA semifinal game on March 9 between the No. 5-seeded Blue Earth Area Buccaneers and the No. 1-seeded Tigers of Belle Plaine.

The Bucs kept the score close and were within four points of the Tigers through the majority of the contest. However, Belle Plaine outscored BEA by a 24-7 margin in the final eight and a half minutes of the game to advance to the Section 2AA finals with a 76-55 victory over the Bucs.

Key baskets by Bucs’ sophomore Ryder Dutton and junior Sully Dahlberg generated enough offense to keep the game close during the first half. In fact, with 7:38 to play before intermission, BEA was in front of Belle Plaine 21-20.

By the time the buzzer sounded ending the first half, Belle Plaine had regained the lead and the teams went into the locker rooms with the Tigers holding a seven-point advantage at 36-29.

Not much changed during the opening six minutes of the final stanza with Belle Plaine maintaining a 46-40 lead over BEA.

A 3-pointer by Will Bromeland brought the Bucs to within four points of Belle Plaine at 47-43 with 10:44 to play in the game.

BEA was still within four points of Belle Plaine with 8:35 remaining on the scoreboard clock. In addition, the Tigers’ leading scorer, Ethan Martin, was on the bench with four fouls. The Bucs had their chances to pull even closer to the Tigers but it wasn’t meant to be and Belle Plaine pulled away during the final minutes for the 21-point victory.

Dahlberg led the Bucs in scoring with 22 points while also pulling down seven rebounds. Bromeland, in his final high school game, closed out his career by tallying 16 points and seven rebounds. Dutton contributed 12 points and Caden Juba had six rebounds. Dahlberg also led the team with three steals.

The 6-foot-5 Martin led Belle Plaine with 28 points and nine rebounds. Logan Anderson added 17 points for the Tigers while Caden Koepp and Kelton Koepp each scored 11.

BEA was 13-for-31 (42 percent) shooting from inside the arc and 8-for-32 (36 percent) from outside the arc. They made five of their seven free throw-attempts (71 percent).

Belle Plaine was very successful from inside the arc where they were 20-for-28 (71 percent). They connected on 25 percent of their shots from outside the arc making eight of their 32 shots. The were 12-for-20 (60 percent) from the charity stripe.

The Bucs had 36 rebounds to the Tigers’ 32 and eight steals to their five. However, Belle Plain had 16 turnovers compared to 24 for BEA.

BEA’s season comes to an end with a record of 18-9 while Belle Plaine, with a record of 23 wins and five losses, advanced to the Section 2AA finals on March 11 where they lost to the No. 3-seeded Waseca Bluejays 75-64.

In addition to Bromeland, the other seniors on the Bucs’ team are Pablo Ozuna, Devin Haase and Omar Gomez.