The Hastings boys basketball team was hoping for an upset in a home game Monday against Metro East Conference leading Tartan.
At halftime, it looked good for the Raiders, as they trailed by just two points. However, Tartan accelerated away in the second half and won 65-50.
With one game left in conference play, Hastings is 8-7 in the Metro East, 13-12 overall.
Owen Bernatz scored 20 points, while Kyan Esterby had 14 and Weston Schult contributed 11. Kellen Nuytten finished with three points, and Lukas Foss had two.
On Friday, Hastings went into Hill-Murray and left with a 51-45 Metro East victory, buoyed by a balanced scoring attack. Bernatz had 16 points and eight rebounds, while Schult scored eight, Matthew Foss seven, and Esterby, Nuytten and Lukas Foss had six each. Payton Dean had two points.
Hastings defeated North St. Paul on the road Feb. 20 by a 66-59 margin.
Hastings connected on nine three pointers in the game (Bernatz had three, Schult, Esterby and Matthew Foss had two each). Bernatz finished with 21 points, Matthew Foss had 12, Nuytten had 11 and Schult added 10. Esterby scored eight points and Lukas Foss three.
Matthew Foss had a big night defensively with six steals, while Marlowe Strain and Esterby had three apiece.
The Raiders host Simley in the final Metro East game of the season Friday and then await word on section tournament seeding for the following week.

Metro East Conference Standings
Team Conf. Overall
Tartan 14-1 21-4
Mahtomedi 11-3 14-10
St. Thomas Ac. 9-5 15-9
South St. Paul 8-6 10-13
Hastings 8-7 13-12
North St. Paul 6-8 9-14
Hill-Murray 4-10 10-1
Two Rivers 4-10 8-16
Simley 0-14 4-20