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Hastings boys' basketball poised for a breakthrough season

By BRYCE EVANS, Special to the Star Tribune, 11/22/14, 5:02PM CST

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After 22 losses two seasons ago, the Hastings boys’ basketball team has hopes for a turnaround.


Hastings High School basketball player Sam Skoyen (15). ] CARLOS GONZALEZ cgonzalez@startribune.com - November 18, 2014, Hastings, Minn., Hastings High School Prep Basketball,

 

There are a lot of ways that Sam Skoyen describes his first year of varsity basketball. It was a struggle, he said, a learning experience, a test of character.

–13. Skoyen was one of nine sophomores on the roster and one of three in the starting lineup. He led the team in scoring that season, averaging 16 points per game, a bright spot in a season that ended with 22 consecutive losses.

Still, it’s because of that season that Skoyen, now a senior captain, feels his team, after improving slightly to 7-20 last season, is ready to take a big leap forward this winter.

“We really grew a lot that year,” he said. “You learn a lot about what it takes to win by going through those struggles. We knew what it felt like to struggle, and we didn’t like it. We didn’t want to go through that again.”

Hastings, which kicked off its season at Coon Rapids on Friday, now has 10 seniors on the team. They have experience, more confidence and are “ready to turn the corner,” coach Chad Feikema said.

“We’ve really been working at building a program here at Hastings,” Feikema said. “And this year, with the seniors we have and the type of players we have, could really be the turning point.”

The Raiders have grown up, and with that experience, they also have a solid combination of athleticism and height. Skoyen and fellow seniors Joe Dittrich and Craig Nielsen are each entering their third year as starters.

The trio has finished 1-2-3 in scoring for Hastings in each of the last two seasons.

Skoyen is fewer than 40 points from reaching 1,000 for his career. He needs about 250 points to set a new Hastings all-time career scoring record.

For the first time in Feikema’s six-year tenure, Hastings will not be starting anyone under 6 feet. He has three post players — seniors Leighton Sundberg and Jay Sorg, and junior Brady Gullicks — who are all 6-f5 or taller. That’s in stark contrast to the past two seasons, when the team’s centers have been 6-2 or shorter.

“It’s just a very different group this year,” Feikema said. “This is as big as we’ve been, and our leadership is just outstanding.”

That leadership has been a two-year process, he said. After that abysmal 2012-13 season, Feikema said, he saw a new commitment from his players.

Led by that sophomore class, his team began showing up in record numbers to offseason training.

“We have practices during the summer period at 7 a.m. and, for the first few years, it was something just a half dozen or so kids showed up for,” he said. “This last summer, we had between 40 and 50 every day.”

The team has a renewed energy, Skoyen said, aided by a switch to the Metro East Conference this season.

The Raiders don’t have any specific win-loss goals in mind, but that doesn’t mean they have low expectations.

Skoyen had just one word to describe this season’s outlook: confident.

“It just feels different,” he said. “We feel different. I think we’re ready to surprise some people.”

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