TENNERTON – The Buckhannon-Upshur junior varsity Buccaneers had their hearts broken by the Lewis County Minutemen Thursday night in a home encounter.

The JV Bucs were leading the game 53-51 when Lewis County hit a baseline three-pointer with a second remaining to escape with a 54-53 victory.

The JV Bucs trailed after one quarter of action by a 14-11 score.

In that first quarter, Bryson Johnston scored four points, while Luke Yardley had three and Nathaniel Ringer and Jaden Westfall two each. The JV Bucs turned up the offense in the second quarter, winning it by a 19-8 margin with Ringer putting in eight points, Ian Strader six and Keyton Lanier five.

That gave them a 30-22 lead at the half.

B-U won the third quarter by a 14-12 count with Ryan Snyder putting in six points and Luke Yardley and Ringer four each.

Buckhannon-Upshur owned a 44-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The JV Bucs lost that last quarter by a 20-9 margin, which cost them the contest. Ryan Kelley had four points while Johnston fired in a three-pointer and Yardley and Snyder both added free throws.

Isaac Smith led Lewis County with 14 points.

Ringer had a game-high 15 points for the JV Bucs, while Yardley had eight and Johnston and Snyder both had seven. The loss dropped the JV Buc to 8-10 on the season heading into Saturday’s road battle at Jefferson. The game will tip at 2 p.m.