Raiders slip to 6-7 on the season

After getting off to a 6-3 start, the Hastings boys basketball team has hit a rough patch as of late. Hastings has lost four straight games, all due to a variety of factors.

First, the level of competition has certainly increased. Hastings lost to Woodbury on Tuesday, and the Royals are now 7-0 in league play. In the game before that, Hastings lost to White Bear Lake, a team with a relatively weak record, but that’s only because they were without their starting center. Mix in a few injuries and the Raiders are now 6-7 overall and 1-5 in Suburban East Conference Action.

Going back to Friday, Hastings fell to White Bear Lake, 84-58.

It was evident early that things weren’t going to fall neatly into place for the Raiders. With a 4-2 lead early, Hastings missed two layups that could have taken the score to 8-2. Instead, the Bears hit a big three-pointer and they went up 5-4.

“They almost needed a timeout to settle down,” coach Chad Feikema said. “Instead, we missed some shots and that allowed them to take the lead.”

Missing relatively easy shots was something Hastings struggled with all night.

“We probably missed about 15 shots of the course of the game that were within five feet of the rim,” Feikema said. “They were high percentage shots. We didn’t put the ball in the basket. That changes a lot about how the game plays out – it affected us on the other end as well. Once we got down by 10 or so, then your defensive energy starts to wane a little bit. Our missed shots, coupled with turnovers led to some scoring opportunities for them.”

White Bear Lake took a 32-16 lead at one point before Hastings rallied to trim the lead to eight points with under a minute to play in the first half. Hastings had the ball and could have cut the lead to five or six. Instead, the Raiders turned it over, leading to a three-pointer by White Bear. That was followed by another Hastings turnover and a White Bear basket. All of a sudden, Hastings was entering halftime down 13.

In the second half, Hastings cut the lead again, getting it down to eight points, but the Bears went on another spurt and pulled away.

Quintan Weaver led Hastings with 17 points. Darius Wilkerson had 15, Josh Monjeau had 10, Connor Raway had 1, Ellis Williams had 9, Mitch Hoffman had 4 and Bryce Garvey had 2.

Hastings plays host to Forest Lake at 7:15 p.m. Friday. The Rangers have a 1-4 mark in SEC play.

Vs Stillwater

Hastings lost to Stillwater on Jan. 10, 65-52.

Hastings had a rough night on the glass, allowing Stillwater to gather 23 offensive rebounds.

“Offensively we played well. Defensively we played well. The one thing we didn’t do well was rebound the basketball,” Feikema said. “The rebounding just really killed us in this game.”

Monjeau led Hastings in scoring with 15 points. He was injured in the team’s season opener and had been playing at less than 100 percent. He has now hit double figures in the team’s last four games.

“He’s got some of his explosiveness back,” Feikema said.

Meanwhile, the team’s leading point scorer this season, DaShaun Harris, has missed the last several games. He injured his ankle during practice after the Park game. He may return to the lineup Friday.

Raway had 2, Williams had 9, Ben Carlson had 6, Hoffman had 8, Drew Pottinger had 2, Wilkerson had 9 and Weaver had 1.

Vs Woodbury

Hastings lost to Woodbury on Tuesday night, 73-57.

The Royals had a strong first half, building a 42-28 lead at the break.

The second half was much closer, with Woodbury holding a slight 31-29 edge.

Weaver had a season-high 23 points to lead the Raiders in the scoring column.

Williams had 17. Wilkerson had 8, Hoffman had 4, Monjeau had 3 and Carlson had 2.

Tags: raider basketball, sports, hastings, minnesota, spiral, prep