TENNERTON – It seemed like for most of the night, the Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers were playing catch-up to the Class AAA No. 9 Elkins Tigers in their Big 10 Conference battle Tuesday night at the high school.

Every time Elkins started to pull away, the Bucs clawed their way back into the game, but they wound up dropping a 61-57 decision.

The Bucs went down early by a 13-4 score but Jaden Westfall closed the opening quarter with a pair of baskets closing the gap to 13-8 heading into the second quarter.

Carter Zuliani started the second quarter with four straight points for B-U as that capped an 8-0 run between the two quarters and pulled the Bucs to within one, at 13-12.

Down 15-14, Elkins’ Tanner Miller went on his own eight-point spree to push the Elkins lead back to nine, at 23-14, with 3:29 left in the half.

Ian Strader uncorked a pair of treys for the Bucs and Bryson Johnston scored on a lay-up for another 8-0 run that made it a 23-22 game with 90 seconds remaining in the half.

After an Elkins free throw, Jerin Westfall unleashed a three-pointer giving the Bucs their first lead, at 25-24.

A free throw by Miller tied the game at 25-25 right before the intermission.

The Bucs got sloppy with the ball to start the second half as Elkins applied some pressure defense and the Tigers scored the first eight points taking a 33-25 advantage just a minute into the quarter.

The Bucs countered with a 6-0 run behind a pair of baskets from Zuliani and a putback by Zack Calef-Boring making it a 33-31 contest.

 A Calef-Boring lay-up tied the game for the second time, at 35-35, but Elkins went on a 6-0 mini run taking the lead back at 41-35 with 3:51 remaining in the third.

Elkins still head their six-point lead going into the final frame, at 49-43.

Elkins built their lead to seven, at 55-48, but Zuliani scored on a short jumper and Calef-Boring went inside for a lay-up to trim the B-U deficit down to three, at 55-52, with 2:57 remaining.

The Bucs could never get any closer than three points down the stretch as Elkins went up 61-54 before Chase Spencer hit a three-pointer for the Bucs to close out the game.

The Bucs put three players in double figures.

Zuliani led the Bucs with 14 points while Jaden Westfall recorded a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Calef-Boring added 10 points for the Bucs.

Cory Harper led all scorers for Elkins with 22 points.

Elkins improved to 10-7 on the season while the Bucs dropped to 6-12.

The Bucs will be back in action Saturday as they host Bridgeport in a make-up game at 6 p.m.