By Bruce Karnick

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The Hastings boys basketball team learned its section seeding after their final regular season game against St. Thomas Academy Friday. Hastings is the eighth seed in the eightteam tournament and will travel to Apple Valley to take on the number one seeded Eastview Lightning on Wednesday, March 9 at 7 p.m.

The regular season ended at home with a 69-35 loss to the Cadets. St. Thomas took the lead early in the game and refused to relinquish that lead. At the half, the Cadets had a 35-24 lead. St. Thomas’s smothering defense kept the Raiders at bay in the second half allowing only 11 points while scoring 34. The final of the game was 69-35.

The coolest piece of the night occurred in the final minute of the game. Brady Zak has been a team manager his entire high school career for both football and basketball. Head Coach Chad Feikema had him dress for the game. With around a minute to go, Zak entered the game. The Cadets ended up with a free throw and Hastings took the ball down the court with just under 30 seconds left in the game. A couple passes were made, the final being to Zak who set up three feet past the three-point line, he put the ball up… it hit the backboard… and PUT IT IN THE BUCKET When the ball went in, the student section went crazy, as did many of the other fans in attendance.

The smile on Zak’s face could light up the Target Center. He looked so proud, and to have so many of his classmates on hand to witness it had to make him feel special. Aside from Zak’s three, Owen Bernatz and Kellen Nuytten were the team’s leading scorers with 11 each.

Another fun piece of the Zak shot is that a clip of the video that Hastings Community Television uploaded found its way to KARE 11, where they showed the clip of Zak’s three-pointer on TV.

The Raiders finish the regular season with a record of 5-21-0.