KINGSTON – The 0-2 Buccaneers are still searching for their first win. Their second loss of the season came on their own court Friday night against the Bremerton Knights, 89-54.

“Our boys played them tough, but the score got away from us,” said coach Tim Olson. At the end of the first quarter, the Bucs were down by only four points with a score of 22-18.

Then the Knights came out in the second quarter and turned up the tempo, resulting in a halftime score of 59-31.

“That second half was pretty tough,” Olson said.

There were several aspects of the game that contributed to the Bucs loss. First and foremost, this was only the second game the boys have played together as a team. In addition, they turned the ball over 35 times and were eight for 14 from the freethrow line, which posed two issues.

The team needs to get better at drawing fouls and improve its percentage from the line, Olson said.

Overall, the Bucs will work on improving their ball-handling skills and getting used to the fast pace of varsity basketball.

“Bremerton put a half-court trap on us in the second quarter, which caused a lot of turnovers,” he said.

Olson is looking at the team’s two losses as learning experiences.

“We’re still a young team. This was our second game ever playing together, and the second game anyone has ever played on a varsity team. We’re still getting used to the tempo and to playing together. All of our mistakes are correctable and we’re going to continue to improve throughout the season,” Olson said.

Both Aaron Lawrence and Ry Ravenholt played well for the Bucs. Lawrence had a 20-point game and Ravenholt pulled in 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

From this point, all the Bucs can do is improve.

“They’re responding well to everything I’m throwing at them. If you’ve seen us play, so far you’d think we’re fun to watch,” Olson said.