After a tough home loss to Mahtomedi Tuesday, Feb. 6, the Hastings boys basketball team got a big win at Two Rivers Thursday night.
The split puts the Raider record at 6-5 in Metro East Conference play, 11-9 overall. The Raiders played at Hudson in a non-conference game Feb. 13 and were scheduled to host South St. Paul (7-4 Metro East) on Feb. 14. The Raiders then get almost a week off before they hit the final six-game stretch of regular season play. They get back on the court Tuesday at North St. Paul and travel to Hill-Murray on Feb. 23. They finish the season playing the top and bottom conference teams. First-place Tartan will come to Hastings Feb. 26 and last place Simley visits on March 1.
Against Mahtomedi, Hastings trailed by just a point at the half before the Zephyrs pulled away in the second stanza for a 62-50 win.
Turnovers – 17 of them - hurt the Raiders, along with a tough Mahtomedi defense. Hastings had been averaging north of 70 points per game in its previous six outings. Except for Weston Schult and Matthew Foss, the Raiders were cold from beyond the three-point arc, hitting just 5-22. Schult connected on 2-3 and Foss was 2-5.
The Raiders were led offensively by Owen Bernatz, who scored 12 points. Schult scored 10, Kellen Nuytten had eight, Lukas Foss seven, Matthew Foss six, Kyan Esterby and Marlow Strain three each and Payton Dean had one.
Schult and Dean each had three steals, while Matthew Foss and Strain had two.
The Raiders fired up that high-scoring machine again at Two Rivers, dominating the Warriors in an 80-64 win.
Bernatz had the hot hand, pouring in 32 points. Esterby had 13, while Schult and Nuytten each had eight, Parker McGinnis scored six, Dean and Matthew Foss five, Lukas Foss two and Strain one.

Metro East Conference Standings
Team Conf. Overall
Tartan 9-1 16-4
Mahtomedi 7-3 10-10
St. Thomas Ac. 7-4 12-8
South St. Paul 7-4 9-11
Hastings 6-5 11-9
North St. Paul 6-5 8-11
Two Rivers 3-7 7-13
Hill-Murray 3-8 7-12
Simley 0-11 3-17