Winter sports are ramping up and the Raiders boys’ basketball team has officially joined the fray for the 2024-25 season this past week. Hastings opened the season across the river in Prescott where they fell 77-83 in a very entertaining game. Then they took a trip to Northfield where they won 74-68.
At Prescott
Against the Cardinals, Hastings jumped out to an early lead in the first half with an 8-0 run, but the Cardinals flipped the score quick and had nearly a 20-point lead. The pendulum swung back to the Raiders and by the time the first half was done, Prescott’s lead was down to five points, 47-42.
The barn burner of the first half was not repeated in the second half as both teams seemed to return to earth from the scoring high. The teams exchanged leads several times with Prescott ending up on top 83-77.
Lukas Foss led the scoring with 25 points. Weston Schult scored 16, Marlowe Strain had 13 and Matthew Foss finished the night with 12. The same group lead in rebounds with Lukas Foss tallying eight, Strain had six, Matthew Foss had five and Schult had four.
At Northfield
The game at Northfield had its share of back-and-forth drama with Northfield taking the lead at the intermission 37-30. Hastings made some half time adjustments, and the ball started to bounce in their favor. Eventually Hastings took the lead and held on to win 74-68.
Mathew Foss led the Raiders with 18 points plus five rebounds. Marlowe Strain topped the rebounds list with nine while contributing 12 points. Kyan Esterby, Schult, Jacob Reuter and Lukas Foss all had ten points in the win.
Up next
Your next chance to catch the Raiders in action is Dec. 16 at home against the Woodbury Royals and then Dec. 20 at home against the Two Rivers Warriors. Both of those games are slated for 6:30 p.m. tips. Then for the Hastings Holiday Tournament, they kick things off at 7:00 p.m. on Dec. 27 against Bloomington Kennedy. The two-day tournament runs into Dec. 28 to round out the competition schedule for 2024.