TENNERTON – It was their biggest game to date when the Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers squared off against the University Hawks Wednesday night at the high school gym.

The top seed in the sectional tournament in two weeks was at stake, but the Bucs were never able to stay with the Hawks, falling behind early by a 15-0 score en route to a 74-32 setback.

University scored early on several transition baskets with the Bucs not getting back on defense and shot 58 percent for the game making good on 32 of their 55 field goals attempts. The Hawks also outrebounded the Bucs by a 31-29 margin and turned the Bucs over 23 times.

The loss left Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Travis Foster wondering where the effort was from his Bucs in such a crucial game.

“We have to find what we want out of the season,” remarked a dejected Foster after the game. “We have been settling of late to being a very mediocre team. It is one thing to lose some games when you have some injuries, but our effort is really bad right now.”

“I am saying things as a coach to the team that I shouldn’t have to be saying with one week left in the season,” he added. “We are too busy taking plays off. We should be hustling on every play and every pass. We were very lazy in getting back on defense tonight. We watched the game happen around us instead of us moving to the ball. We have to find players moving on every play for 32 minutes. This effort tonight was unacceptable.”

Down 15-0, the Bucs finally got on the scoreboard with 2:22 remaining in the first quarter when Lamar Hurst scored from underneath.

Zach Calef-Boring made a lay-up at the end of the quarter, leaving the Bucs down 20-6.

A putback by Shawn Blandino kept the Bucs down by 12, at 24-12, with 5:18 showing on the second-quarter clock, but the Hawks went on a 10-0 run opening up a 34-12 advantage.

Ian Strader ended the run with a lay-up for B-U at the 1:27 mark, but the Hawks scored the final four points of the quarter for a 38-14 lead at the break.

Sterlin Thropp started the third quarter with a lay-up putting the Bucs down 22, but they couldn’t get any closer than that as the Hawks built their lead to 27 at the end of the stanza, at 54-27.

The Bucs were outscored in the fourth quarter by a 20-5 margin.

Garrison Kisner led the Hawks with 20 points while Elija Jackson added 13 as University improved to 11-7 on the season.

Jaden Westfall, who got a start against the Hawks, led the Bucs with 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Bucs dropped to 8-10 on the year and will look to right the ship on Thursday as they host Lewis County at 7:30 p.m.