By Bruce Karnick

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As the regular season is about to come to a close, the Raider boys basketball team is ranked right in the middle of the 413 schools for the state at 208. The season has not gone the way the Raiders had hoped with an overall record of 4-19 and a conference record of 3-10, near the bottom of the Metro East Conference.

Hastings is also missing a key scoring component in Michael Mitchell who is out for the season with an injury. Headed into a rematch against the number seven team in the state in South St. Paul, it did not look promising for Hastings. The first meeting resulted in a 30-point loss for the Raiders.

Tenacity and grit, that is how. Hastings traded points with the Packers for a good portion of the first half, and more importantly, the Raider defense shocked the overconfident Packers. South St. Paul had a 12-7 lead about halfway through the first half, increasing the lead 27-12. Hastings kept fighting hard. By the time the half was over, the score was 33-29 in favor of the Packers.

This was a matchup of #7 vs #208. #208 was down a key player and only down by four. They were still in this game with a half to play. Hastings kept the pressure on and kept making key shots to stay within single digits. They were within striking distance the majority of the game, moving the ball around well and taking clean shots. Despite their best efforts, the Packers held them off and Hastings fell 76-63.

Hastings had three players in double digits for scoring. Owen Bernatz led the way with 27 followed by Jonathon Watson with 11 and Ty Krick with 10. Kellen Nuytten had nine on the night.

Two days after leaving every ounce of energy on the floor at South St. Paul, the Raiders played host to Mahtomedi. Unfortunately for Hastings, they could not keep up with Mahtomedi after the near upset of the Packers. Shots were not falling as they should, and Mahtomedi had their way with Hastings. By the time the first half was over, the Raiders were down 52-22. The second half had the mercy rule kick in and the clock was running time with the 30+ point lead. The game ended 92-55. Bernatz was again the leading scorer with 18 but this time, no one joined him with double digits.

There are two games left for Hastings in the regular season, Feb. 25 against Simley and Mar. 4 against St. Thomas Academy. Both games are at home and 7 p.m. tips.

The Raiders are currently in eighth place in the Section 3AAAA standings out of eight teams. That puts them travelling for every round of the section playoffs.

Currently, Eastview has the top seed and is the likely opponent for the first round of sections unless Park of Cottage Grove gets voted as the higher seed at the section meeting. The rankings are based off the Quality Results Formula or QRF used by the Minnesota State High School League intended to create an unbiased, numbers-based ranking of high school sports. Eastview has a QRF of 205.4 and Park has 183.8. A 20+ point gap with a few games to go is tough to overcome which points heavily to Eastview as the Hastings opponent for the first section game. Coaches gather for a section meeting to discuss why they think a team should move up or down in the rankings before they vote for final seeding for the section.