By Bruce Karnick

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The Raider boys basketball team had a rough week falling to 5-7 in the Metro East Conference and 6-8 overall after dropping two of three games.

Tuesday night, the North St. Paul Polars came to town for a MEC matchup. The game was back and forth early, then the Polars took command. With a few minutes remaining in the first half, the Raiders stormed back to be within two at the break, 33-31.

The second half saw much more of the same, aggressive defense on both teams, lots of ball movement on offense trying to open shots and scores back and forth only this time, the Raiders took the commanding lead and were up by double digits at one point. That is when things broke down. North played even more aggressively on the full court press forcing the Raiders to rush their plays. When given the opportunity to seal the victory at the free throw line, Hastings could not convert consistently. With less than four seconds remaining, North got the ball in the hands of their leading scorer, Murl Smith who drained the buzzer beater to tie the game at 69.

Had the Raiders made one of the many missed free throws, that buzzer beater would not have mattered, instead, they were headed to overtime. The first few minutes the teams were playing slow, trying to eat up clock and not make mistakes. Back and forth they went trading points when North turned on the press forcing four straight turnovers by the Raiders. Unfortunately, the boys could not overcome the costly 30 seconds of scoring and they fell 83-79.

Michael Mitchell led the Raiders in scoring with 19, Evan McGinnis had 18 and Carter Olson had 13.

On Thursday, Hastings Travelled to St. Anthony Village to take on the Huskies. Heading into halftime, Hastings had a 39-32 lead thanks to stellar play by Mitchell and Japhe Gudissa. Unfortunately, a stream of the game was not available, so details are limited. Hastings won 63-60. Mitchell led with 26 points and Gudissa had 20.

Saturday the Raiders played host to the Trojans from New Prague for Senior Day and New Prague was looking to spoil the fun. New Prague jumped out to an early lead and it looked like it was going to be a long day for the Raiders. By the time halftime hit, the Trojans had a seven-point lead, 36-29.

Most coaches would like to avoid that situation, so it’s tough to say, ‘luckily Hastings has some comeback experience under their belt.’ But, luckily, Hastings has some comeback experience under their belt and they were able to chip away at that lead. With two minutes left, Hastings trailed by two. Gudissa was unable to connect on a three and New Prague ran down to add two. On the return up the floor, Axel Arnold made an offensive foul turning the ball over. In that exchange, Olsen notched his fourth foul sending new Prague to the line. One of two were made extending the Trojan Lead 61-57.

Hastings went on the offensive with McGinnis nailing a three making it 61-60 Trojans with a minute and a half left. In the return down the court, Arnold got his fifth foul sending New Prague to the line in the double bonus and forcing the Raiders to pull Arnold. Their shooter missed both leaving the Raiders trailing 61-60. After a timeout, Hastings missed a few opportunities to score up close when Gudissa kicked it out to Ty Krick, Arnolds replacement, for a threepoint shot that failed to fall. In the fight for the rebound, Gudissa also fouled out.

New Prague hit both free throws extending their lead 63-60. With 25 seconds left. Mitchell decided it was time to go coast to coast and was fouled during his shot. He drained both free throws bringing the score to 63-62 with roughly 20 seconds left. Hastings desperately need a steal, not wanting to send New Prague back to the line. Unfortunately, a foul was called, and the Trojans were shooting two. Shot one clanked off the rim, shot two clanked off the rim and Mitchell was able to grab the rebound. Again, he went coast to coast and went in a little hard, the ball shot off the back board and, in an attempt to rebound, flew out of bounds near half court where Will Hubbard made an amazing save for the Raiders tossing it back to McGinnis. Head Coach Chad Feikema was quick to call a timeout with 10 seconds remaining to reset the play and give the boys a chance to calm down.

The final possession for the Raiders yielded no clear chances to shoot as time expired giving New Prague their fourth, hard fought win of the season 63-62 and giving the Raiders a loss on Senior Night.

The Final three regular season games for Hastings are all away games. Tuesday the 9th at Tartan, Thursday the 11th at Henry Sibley and Saturday the 13th at North.

Michael Mitchell drives the lane against North St. Paul on Tuesday night at home. Mitchell was Hastings leading scorer on the night with 19. Photo by Bruce Karnick

Hastings big man, #15-Carter Olson, feeds #13-Connor Deme on the perimeter in the second half of the game against North St. Paul. Deme scored five on the night in the Raiders overtime loss. Photo by Bruce Karnick