The Raiders boys basketball team came into the week at 2-6 looking to make some headway on the hardwood against Tartan (2-2) and Northfield (3-3) but that plan fell short.

First, the boys travelled north to take on Tartan on Jan. 5th. They fell behind quickly in the first half 26-12 and the deficit was too much to overcome. The final of the game was 74-48, Tartan. The Titans kept all but one Raider to single digit scoring. Owen Bernatz had 11, Kelvin Maher, Kellen Nuytten and Lukas Foss each had six and Parker McGinnis had five, as did Weston Schult.

Against Northfield, the Raiders offense fared much better, but defensively, Hastings could not win the turnover battle. The first half finished with the Raiders trailing 33-25, a much better start than against Tartan, but again, a first half deficit that was too much to overcome. The second half became a shootout with Hastings scoring 48 and Northfield scoring 50. Northfield won 8373. Hastings played much better team basketball in this game, moving the ball around to open shooters and making better decisions in transition. Bernatz once again led the scoring with 22, Matthew Foss had 15 and Kelvin Maher had 13.

With the two losses, the Raiders are now 2-8 for the season with 16 games to go. Hastings has three games over the course of eight days. Tuesday, Jan. 10th, they host North St. Paul, Jan. 13th they travel to South St. Paul for a 7:00 p.m. tip, then they return home on Jan. 18th to take on Mahtomedi, also at 7:00 p.m.