What happened on Saturday?
The Hastings High Boys’ Basketball team lost their third game of the season on Saturday, losing to BRLD at the Heartland Hoops Classic at the Heartland Event Center in Grand Island.
Wait, Hastings High played a team called BRLD? Why haven’t I heard of them?
If you’ve never heard of BRLD before Saturday’s boys basketball matchup, rest assured you’re not alone. The BRLD Wolverines are actually two separate high schools: Bancroft-Rosalie and Lyons-Decatur. These four cities in Northeast Nebraska have populations of 495, 160, 851 and 481 respectively.
Why is Hastings High playing against BRLD?
The Heartland Hoops Classic, held every year, chooses interesting matchups that would be highly unlikely to ever meet under regular in-season scheduling. Many of these matchups feature teams that would normally never set foot in Nebraska, such as IMG Academy of Florida, Sunrise Christian Academy of Kansas and Bishop Walsh of Maryland, as well as matchups of teams that have significant classification gaps, such as Hastings (B) and BRLD (C2), Grand Island Senior High (A) and Grand Island Central Catholic (C2).
Heartland Hoops Classic organizers knew that, despite the size difference, the matchup between the Wolverines and the Tigers would be full of excitement. BRLD has not lost a game since December 14, 2018 (a now 45-game streak), and the surging Tigers have been having one of the best seasons in recent team history.
How did the game go?
Hastings, with a major size advantage, won the opening tip. Connor Creech opened scoring for the Tigers, making the first free throw but missing the second after being fouled hard on the first possession. BRLD Guard Darwin Snyder answered, slashing through Tiger defense throughout the entire first quarter for 10 of his team’s 21 points. At the end of the first quarter, a surprised Hastings team faced an eight-point deficit at 13-21. BRLD’s methodical approach to find an open shooter on every possession, coupled with an aggressive defense that forced turnovers seemingly at will, challenged the Tiger defense, which found itself in an unfamiliar hole.
Scoring continued as the Wolverines were able to keep the Tigers at arms’ length throughout the second quarter. BRLD reached a double digit lead by the middle of the second quarter, but a three-pointer by Mike Boeve and a contested layup by Connor Creech brought the game back to five points, only to have Snyder’s shooting open the Wolverine’s lead back to eight. The first half ended on a Haggan Hilgendorf free throw, with the Wolverines taking a 30-23 lead into halftime.
The Wolverines beat the Tigers badly in the rebound category throughout the first half, through effective rebounding by 6’4 senior Jaxon Johnson and 6’5 junior Dylan Beutler.
Hastings emerged out of the locker rooms with a new urgency. Pushing Hilgendorf out to the top of the defense with Creech, Hastings was able to force two quick turnovers and bring the game back to one possession out of the gate.
Energy on the Hastings side of Eihusen Arena started to get tense with BRLD star Darwin Snyder sent Hilgendorf flying on a hard foul. Discontent was audible as referees chose to assess a simple shooting foul instead of the flagrant foul Tiger fans were hoping for.
Hastings’ excellent third quarter brought the game to 41-40 at the start of the fourth quarter, and Connor Creech’s three pointer to open the fourth quarter gave Hastings its first lead since the first basket of the game. This lead was short lived, though, as Snyder brought his point total on the day to 24 with two quick three pointers.
With two minutes left in the game, the Wolverines were up 55-53 on the Tigers. BRLD appeared to be content to hold the ball until the end of the game, but Tiger pressure forced the Wolverines to call timeout and regroup with 1:18 left. Hastings’ clean game presented problems for the Tigers: since they had not committed many fouls early in the second half, the Tigers were unable to force free throws and facilitate a change in possessions. Prior to the final minute of the game, Hastings had only committed four fouls in the second half.
The Wolverines finally entered the bonus with 44 seconds to play in the game. BRLD was able to keep the Tigers at a four-point deficit with two clutch free throws by Lucas Vogt, but Jake Schroeder brought the game back to one possession after getting fouled going up for a shot. Vogt was again fouled and again made both of his free throws, giving the Tigers 23 seconds to make up four points. Connor Creech’s three banked off the left side of the rim, and a Wolverine rebound all but sealed the game for BRLD. Once again, Lucas Vogt connected on both free throws to open a six-point lead, and Connor Creech’s layup as time expired amounted to nothing, as BRLD survived 61-57 for their 45th consecutive victory.
Hastings falls to 19-3, with two of their losses coming in their last three games, and will look to reverse their recent momentum with the upcoming postseason. BRLD improves to 22-0 and looks to continue their perfect season against Pender, a school almost 15 times smaller than Hastings. Darwin Snyder finished with 24 points, leading all scorers. Connor Creech finished the game with 23 points in one of his better showings of the year. Lucas Vogt of BRLD finished the game with 12 points, going a perfect 6/6 from the line in the final minute of the game.
