The Raider boys basketball team (5-18) played host to South St. Paul (17-5) before traveling to Mahtomedi (18-3) in a tough week of conference play falling to South St. Paul 84-61 and Mahtomedi 86-45.

Against South St. Paul, Hastings dominated the first 10 minutes of play, shutting out the Packers 9-0. The Raider defense kept the Packer shooters off balance and forced them into difficult shots. Unfortunately, that did not last long and by the time the half was over, the Raiders only had a one point lead at the intermission.

The Packers offense came back on a mission. Hastings stayed very consistent for scoring, putting up 30 in the first half and 31 in the second, but the Packers put up 55 in the second half to win 84-61.

Owen Bernatz led the Raiders with 17 points, followed by Lukas Foss with 16. Matthew Foss led with five rebounds. Turnovers were very similar for the two teams, with Hastings turning the ball over 26 times to South St. Paul’s 23. The biggest statistical story was the rebounds. Hastings had 18 and the Packers grabbed 30, which is a potential 24-point swing.

The game at Mahtomedi was much less compelling for the Raiders. The Zephyrs grabbed the lead and held on for the majority of play. At the half, Mahtomedi had the lead 46-31 and the second half was not good to Hastings either. Mahtomedi won that half 40-14 and the game 86-45.

Kellen Nuytten led the Raiders in scoring with 17, Matthew Foss had 13 and Bernatz had nine.

With two regular season games left on the schedule, Feb. 24 at Simley and Mar. 3 at St. Thomas Academy, the Raiders will likely find themselves as the eighth seed in Section 3AAAA. The eighth seed will likely put them against Eastview in the section tournament. The first section game will be at the high seed location on Mar. 7. All three of the known remaining games for the boys are scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. start.