The Hastings boys basketball team heads into postseason play after putting an exclamation point on the regular season with a 74-48 blowout of Simley on Friday.
The Raiders now have their sights set on Rosemount in the first game of the Section 3AAAA tournament, which was scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6. Hastings drew the five seed, and Rosemount is the four. Winner plays the winner of the Eagan (one seed) and Bloomington Jefferson (eight seed) on Friday at 7 p.m. On the other side of the section bracket, Apple Valley (two) hosts Burnsville (seven) and Park (three) hosts Eastview (six). The Section title game will be held March 14.
Rosemount finished 6-12 (9-17 overall), good for eighth place in the South Suburban Conference. With the final win, Hastings ended up in sixth place in the Metro East with a respectable 9-7 mark, 14-12 overall. The high-scoring Raiders average 72 points per game, compared to Rosemount’s 55.
Everybody got a lot of court time in the big win over Simley. Owen Bernatz, who averages just under 20 points per game to lead Hastings, finished with a game high 17 points in 18 minutes on the court. Matthew Foss and Kellen Nuytten scored 8 points each, while Weston Schult and Payton Dean had seven each, followed by Kyan Esterby and Parker McGinnis 5, Marlowe Strain and Lukas Foss 4, Naaol Wako and Alex Siebenaler 3, Landon Miska 2 and Jackson Dimmick 1.
Nuytten cleared 10 rebounds as the Raiders dominated on the glass. Bernatz had four of the Raiders’ 11 steals as they stymied Simley.
Metro East Conference
Fnal Standings
Team Conf. Overall
Tartan 15-1 22-4
Mahtomedi 12-4 15-11
STA 10-6 16-10
South St. Paul 9-6 12-14
Hastings 9-7 14-12
North St. Paul 6-10 9-16
Two Rivers 6-10 10-16
Hill-Murray 4-11 11-15
Two Rivers 6-10 10-16
Simley 0-16 4-22
