The Raiders boys’ basketball team (14-12) traveled to Rosemount (9-18) for the first round of the Section 3AAAA playoffs. Hastings earned the fifth seed and Rosemount the fourth which put the Raiders on the road to take on the Irish.
The game started methodically and close with several lead changes in the first 10 minutes. Hastings even had a double-digit lead at one point. One thing to remember is that basketball is a fickle game. One minute, shots drop back-to-back and the next, they would not hit the broad side of a barn. To start the half for Hastings, things were going well shot-wise. By the time the Raiders jumped out to their largest lead, the barn showed up and the Raider's shots cooled off. Rosemount stormed back and finished the first half with a 35-21 lead over Hastings.
In the second half, Hastings had a little spurt of success, but Rosemount would counter with one or two three-pointers to knock the Raiders down again. With each basket Hastings made, Rosemount went on a mini run scoring four to nine points. With just a few minutes left in the game, the Irish had doubled up the Raiders and at the final buzzer, Rosemount won 74-45 ending the Raiders season.
Offensively, the top four scorers for Hastings were Weston Schult with 11, Matthew Foss 10, Owen Bernatz nine and Kyan Esterby eight. Bernatz led with 10 rebounds and Marlowe Strain grabbed four.
The Raiders will lose six players to graduation this year: Parker McGinnis, Owen Bernatz, Payton Dean, Alex Siebenaler, Jason Dimmick and Kellen Nuytten. With the departure of the six seniors, the door is open for another group of talented players for next year and those boys will do quite well. To six young men who are graduating, thank you for your dedication to Raider Basketball, best of everything in the future.
