By Bruce Karnick

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The Raiders boys basketball team picked up a win at home against North St. Paul on Feb. 8 to move to 4-16 on the season. That game went into the half tied at 27. Hastings came out on a mission, and they outscored the Polars by five to take the win, 59-54. Jonathon Watson led the Raiders in scoring with 19, Owen Bernatz had 16 for the only two Raiders in double digits. Five other Raiders combined for the 24 points. Will Hubbard had six, Kelvin Maher, Axel Arnold and Ty Krick each had five, and Kellen Nuytten scored three.

Two days later, the Raiders traveled to Two Rivers to take on the Warriors. By the end of the first half, Hastings was down by four. The Raiders seemed to have brought a skeleton crew to Mendota Heights with an iron five showing up on the stat sheet. Even with three of the five in double digits, Hastings fell 61-50. Bernatz led with 19 points, Nuytten had 12, Hubbard had 10. Krick scored five and Watson 4.

At 4-17 overall and 3-8 in the conference, the Raiders have their work cut out for them for their final five games of the regular season. First stop is South St. Paul on Feb. 16. The first meeting was a 30-point win by the Packers. Mahtomedi comes to town on Feb 18 for the second meeting of the season. The Zephyrs won the first meeting by 26 points. Hastings then travels to Hill Murray on Feb. 22, looking to sweep the season series there. Hastings won the first meeting, 62-60. They then host Simley on Feb. 25, looking to avenge the previous 72-44 loss. The regular season finale is at home against St. Thomas Academy on Mar. 4. Hastings lost the first meeting by 27. All the remaining regular season games are 7 p.m. tips.