By Bruce Karnick

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Anytime a team faces a number one seed in a section tournament is an uphill battle. With Hastings being the eighth seed for the section and the Eastview Lightning being the one seed along with being ranked as the seventh best team in class AAA, the fear was that Hastings was in for a long night in their contest March 9.

The game started very well for the Raiders with the defense keeping their opponents on their heels and forcing them to rush many of their shots. With 12 minutes remaining in the first half, Eastview had the 10-4 lead.

“I thought the first half we played really well. You know, we didn’t shoot the ball very well. But I thought the ‘how’ of how we played was really good. You know, we executed some things, we got some good shots, the shots didn’t go down. I thought defensively we were excellent in the first half. Our help side needed to be early, we needed to flood the strong side, I thought we did a good job of that. They had a couple of posts entries that we got over there really quick. We forced a couple of turnovers on those post entries. We had a few other times that guys did a great job working, doing their work early and getting in front of that. So, first half, I thought defensively, we were really good. We had a few catastrophic turnovers that led to some points in transition. And obviously, you know, a couple of times, offensive rebounds near the rim. But as far as our half-court defense in the first half was concerned, I was really, really pleased. But in the end, you’ve got to make shots,” explained Coach Chad Feikema.

Eastview’s size was simply too much for the Raiders who do not have a player over six feet tall. And in the last 12 minutes of the first half, Eastview put in 28 more to make the score 38-17. Hastings fought hard and played as a team throughout but ultimately fell 78-29. Owen Bernatz led the team with nine points, Will Hubbard had seven and Axel Arnold had six.

After the game, Coach Feikema had this to say regarding what he told the boys in the locker room: “I think a lot of times, I look back on my high school career I don’t remember necessarily wins and losses, I remember whether or not I enjoyed playing and I hope number one that they enjoyed playing and, and the second thing was, we really have two rules on our team, play hard and be a great teammate. That’s a life lesson. Because if you work hard in life, work hard at college, good things happen to people that put in that kind of effort. So hopefully, they take that lesson and apply that to wherever they go next. And then, being a great teammate is about being unselfish and putting other people first and the hope is that they’re a great teammate in the future, whatever job or career they may have, they’re a great teammate, to their spouse when they’re married and raising kids and, put them first. So, those two life lessons are important. Hopefully, our guys walk away with that with their experiences, at least for the seniors here as they move on. For our younger guys, we’ve got to learn from the lessons of this year, both basketball and life. But, as they look forward to next season and preparing for what comes next, we have high hopes with a lot of the young guys that we have, but there’s things that need to be learned things that need to get better, and hopefully they can see that and get those things done.”

Departing Seniors Axel Arnold and Jonathon Watson took a few minutes to chat before jumping on the bus.

“What’s really going through my head is just the traveling days with the boys and going to the Timberwolves games with each other and all that stuff. And then just, being there messing around in the locker room and on the court. I’m not thinking about wins or losses. I’m not upset about the loss. I’m just upset that I’m not going to get to play with my brothers,” said Arnold.

“It was just great to get to play with the guys. I’m going to remember this forever. The lessons I’ve learned, and the experiences I’ve had. I mean, this is by far the best season I had my high school career. I love each and every one of these guys and I’m really glad that I got this experience,” added Watson. “It feels like just yesterday, we were playing our first game. It’s crazy to think that it’s over tonight. I got my whole life ahead of me. I don’t know what’s coming up, but I know that I’m going to cherish each moment that I have.”

“I think this taught me that, no matter what happens, you’ve always got somebody to pick you up if you’ve got your brothers with you. And whatever happens to them, you got to pick them up also. And it’s just that kind of mutual relationship that you have with each other. It’s helping each other out and supporting each other is the biggest thing that I really learned through basketball, and just through all sports,” Arnold said.

The season did not go the way it was intended, but the boys had each other and that is all they needed.