Boys Hoops

The Raider boys’ basketball team (2-3) played host to the Woodbury Royals (1-4) in their only game last week on a chilly and windy Tuesday night. After a tumultuous first half where Hastings trailed by nine, the Raiders fought back and eventually took the lead before falling 76-73, moving both the Raiders and Royals to 2-4 on the season.

The first half started with key shots by both teams and the lead exchanged hands early and often for the first third of the half. That is when the Royals took control of the first period.

“Woodbury did a nice job in the first half of executing and getting us out of position defensively on a number of possessions, but we also didn't communicate a few screens in the first half, we didn't communicate a change in defense on another, and all of those things added up,” explained Head Coach Chad Feikema.

Keeping the Raiders off balance proved to be a solid game plan for Woodbury as they took a 41-32 lead into the half. However, one thing that fans know about Raiders sports is they are a scrappy bunch. It is rare to see any Raider team give up no matter the situation. The kids did just that, they came out in the second half and kept fighting.

“We talked some X's and O's like we do in most games, and made a few small adjustments, but the biggest message was that sports are often games of mistakes, and the team that wins is usually the team that makes the fewest mistakes, and that we needed to make fewer of them,” added Feikema. “We did not have a glaring area of weakness in the first half, but we would make a variety of mistakes that accumulate on the scoreboard. We have a very young team that is capable of doing really well, but we need to learn how to win. We expect to be in a lot of close games this year, and in order to get over the hump and win those close games, we are going to have to get better at details and make fewer mistakes.”

Hastings did just that, they made fewer little mistakes in the second half and fought back to hold the lead at one point. Once Hastings took the lead, the game returned to go back and forth on the scoreboard.

“We played much better in the second half, especially on the defensive end,” said Feikema. “We also did a nice job of getting a little bit deeper into offensive possessions and finding the open man as well. We believe that we have a number of really good catch and shoot players on our team, and that if we execute together, and make that extra pass to find them, that we will make a high percentage of those shots.”

Hastings outscored Woodbury 41-35 in the second stanza, but unfortunately the Royals finished the game with a three-point lead, winning 7673.

For Hastings, Owen Bernatz led on the scoring side with 29 points, followed closely by Payton Lee-Dean with 26 and Kellen Nyutten had eight points. The Raiders shot 41.1 percent to Woodbury’s 50.0 percent.

Lee-Dean was the surprise of the game with 26 points. Looking back at the Raiders scoring, Lee-Dean had a total of 22 points in four games prior to this contest.

“Payton is a really good athlete and is shooting 50% from three on the season so far,” added Feikema. “He is a very good catch and shoot shooter, and our guys did a better job of finding him in this game. Payton did score 18 points in the Big Lake game to open the season, so we have seen something like this from him before. The better our team plays together, the more likely it is that you see this more as the season goes along… both from Payton in particular, as well as some other guys on our team.”

With the winter break in full swing, Hastings will now host their four team Christmas tournament on Dec 28 and 29.

As for the regular season, at 2-4, Hastings will host St. Thomas Academy on January 3 against the 1-4 Cadets. Then on January 5, they travel to Tartan to take on the 2-2 Titans. Both of these games are the start of the Metro East Conference games, and they are scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.

Girls Hoops

The girls entered the week with a 3-3 record as they travelled to Park of Cottage Grove, who sat at 2-3 for the season.

The girls have had the winter cold bug traveling through the locker room recently and this games victim was Keagan McVicker. McVicker has been the leading scorer for the Raiders all season with an average of 16.8 points per game. Emma Bakker is just behind her with 12.0 per game and Hailey Strain is behind them with 8.6 per game.

Park has traditionally played well against Hastings and this game, with Hastings missing their leading scorer had the potential to be a very difficult game. Hastings shot 26.5 percent total and 10 percent from beyond the threepoint arch. The same stats for Park were not available, but the score indicates that it was an offensively challenging game with both teams scoring less than 40 points.

At the half, Hastings trailed 22-7. Just like the boys, the Raiders never quit, fighting back to win the second half, but the 15-point deficit was too much to overcome. Hastings fell to the Wolfpack 39-28. Bakker led the scoring for Hastings with 14 and Strain had 11.

Just like the boys, the girls are part of the Christmas tournament that starts December 28 and concludes December 29. It includes games for BSquad, Junior Varsity and Varsity. See the included graphics for game times for your favorite Raider team during the tournament.

For the regular season, at 34, Hastings will travel to Apple Valley (0-5) on Dec 5 at 7:00 p.m. then the Raiders return home to take on the 2-2 Tartan Titans on Fri, Dec 6 also at 7:00 p.m.

Freshman Matthew Foss has contributed to all six Varsity games this year, averaging 22.3 minutes per game. Photo by Bruce Karnick