The Raider boys’ hoopsters had two contests last week, both took place at home. First up was the 2-2 Woodbury Royals on Dec. 16 where Hastings came out on top 65-56. The next matchup was against the 4-2 Two Rivers Warriors on Dec 20.
Versus Woodbury
The game against the Royals started out looking like Woodbury was going to score like an NBA team. They hit five straight three-point shots and found themselves leading the Raiders 20-8. Luckily for Hastings, that shooting cooled down just as fast as it heated up and the Royals only made one more three pointer the rest of the half.
The game went from a shootout in the first five minutes to a defensive battle that saw Hastings tally nine steals and a plethora of defensive rebounds. The Raiders switched things up on defense that caused confusion for the Royals which led to many missed shots. Hastings clawed their way back from the opening deficit to trail by only one headed into the break, 30-29.
The second half, the Raiders defense continued to shine, a testament to their resilience. They held the Royals to 26 second half points while the Raider offense continued to heat up. Hastings ultimately scored 36 Points in the second half led by Lukas Foss and Marlowe Strain who each had 14 total points to give the Raiders the win 65-56.
The win over Woodbury put Hastings as the number one team in Class AAAA for the time being according to the Quality Results Formula (QRF) from Minnesota-scores.net. The Hub’s coaches’ poll and Pacesetter Sport’s Minnesota Basketball Network do not have the Raiders in the top 10.
In the win, Strain and Lukas Foss led the scoring with 14, Weston Schult had 10 points, Kyan Esterby tallied nine points, Brady Hendrickson had eight to round out the top five scorers. Strain was the top rebounder with eight, Esterby had six, Schult and Matthew Foss had five and Lukas Foss finished with three.
Versus Two Rivers.
The Warriors came to town, and they wasted little time jumping on the Raiders offensively. By the time the intermission hit, Hastings trailed 48-30. The second half hastings was able to put up 13 more points than the first half, but it was not enough to overcome the Warriors 18-point lead and Hastings fell 87-73.
Esterby led the Raiders scoring with 17 points, Schult scored 14, Lukas Foss 12, Matthew Foss had 11 and Strain scored nine.
Up Next is the Hastings Raiders HS Basketball Holiday Tournament
The tournament takes place Friday, Dec. 27 and Saturday, Dec. 28. Where there is the opportunity to see 24 games in 48 hours. Concessions will be open the entire tournament and fans will have a chance to see both the boys and girls teams, B/C Squad through Varsity. Teams from Forest Lake, Bloomington Jefferson, Bloomington Kennedy, Farmington, Park Wolfpack, and New Prague will participate. Stay updated on tournament scores/games on the Hastings Raiders Basketball FB page. Some games will be streamed on local radio and others can be found on the Hastings HS Sports Streaming YouTube channel. The scheduled game times are the same for both days as far as time slots, but the matchups depend on who wins and who loses on Friday. The updated schedule will be found on the Hastings Raiders Basketball Facebook page for the Saturday games.