Letter: Hastings was a ‘very well coached’ team

To the editor,

I wanted to respond to the second-guessing of coaches at the section playoff basketball game in Owatonna.

First off I want to comment that this was one of the state’s top teams we played against, on their home court.

Our Raider coaching staff came up with a great game plan against Owatonna, and we nearly pulled it off.

Our team came out fighting from the get-go, and never let up until the final buzzer went off, and we came up short. I can’t pick the words out to say how proud of our team I was for that performance.

The game was tight the entire way, and with just two minutes to play we were only down by three. A very controversial call went against us while we had possession and driving for a basket that could have cut it to one.

We were put in a position to foul, hoping they would miss their free throws. They didn’t, and we missed shots on our next few  possessions. The game was much closer than the final score indicated. The Raider coaching staff put us in a position to win that game.  It didn’t happen, but we were close. In my opinion the second- and third-best teams in the section played that night, and we came out on the short end.

Coach Chad Feikema and his staff did the best possible job all year getting us ready for section playoffs, coming out of the extremely tough Suburban East Conference, and we were ready. We took a four-point halftime lead, and fought to the end.

As I was leaving I heard one couple of parents from Owatonna comment that they had just played a very good team.

They did play a very good team, that was also very well coached.

Bob Monjeau

Hastings

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