The Hastings boys basketball team will use its six days off after losses on back-to-back night last week to finish its Metro East Conference schedule strong.
Hastings opens up this week with road games at North St. Paul on Feb. 20 and Hill-Murray on Friday. They return home for the last two league games next week, Monday against Tartan and Friday, March 1 against Simley.
The Raiders hit a bit of a bump in the road, falling in a non-conference across the river in Hudson on Tuesday, Feb. 13 and then losing a heartbreaker 61-58 on their home court Wednesday, Feb. 14 against South St. Paul.
The loss dropped Hastings to fifth place with a 6-6 Metro East mark.
Against Hudson, the Raiders lost 83-74 to the second-place team in the large-school Big Rivers Conference. The Raiders had three players in double digits in scoring, led by Kellen Nurtten’s 18-point, eight rebound game. Kyan Esterby connected on 6-10 of his shots from the floor for 13 points, and Lukas Foss scored 10. Owen Berntaz added nine points and four assits and Weston Schult, Payton Dean and Matthew Foss each contributed eight in the balanced scoring attack.
Against South St. Paul, the Raiders jumped out to a quick lead before the visitors hit their stride and posted a 34-23 halftime lead. Hastings came out of the intermission strong, and the game went to overtime.
Bernatz finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Raider attack. Esterby added 14, while Schult scored eight to go along with five assists and two steals, Matthew Foss scored seven and Strain had five.
Metro East Conference Standings
Team Conf. Overall
Tartan 11-1 18-4
Mahtomedi 9-3 12-10
St. Thomas Ac. 5-5 13-9
South St. Paul 8-5 10-12
Hastings 6-6 11-11
North St. Paul 6-6 8-12
Two Rivers 4-8 8-14
Hill-Murray 4-9 8-13
Simley 0-13 3-19
