Hastings 67 Simley 62: Five Things to Know

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hastings knocked off Simley by two scores Thursday night and Prep Hoops was present for the game. What should you know about the contest? We break it down.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. Three Point Barrage</strong>. Hastings overtook Simley late with a late game run of outstanding three point shooting. [player_tooltip player_id='1244764' first='Owen' last='Bernatz'] overcame foul trouble to make a couple clutch late threes, Payton Lee-Dean bounced back from a rough shooting day to make a big one late, and 6'1 freshman Matthew Floss hit his last four three-point attempts helping push the Raiders over the edge. Hastings scored on a dozen threes for the game overcoming a huge game from Tre Lovelace (more on that later). Hastings has bounced back from an 11 game losing streak to win two in a row.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. Kellen's Big Game.</strong> Six-foot-3 Hastings junior [player_tooltip player_id='1288679' first='Kellen' last='Nuytten'] has spent his winter having to defend bigger players all season. It's often a thankless job that results in leaning into bigger players and having to constantly shoot over bigger and longer players. He's had a solid season averaging 9.5 points and 6.5 rebounds a game but last night he faced a Simley team of similar size. And Nuytten was the MVP. Kellen opened the contest making his first five scores around the basket and then responded to his first miss by sinking a three. Nuytten also scored three times in the paint late in the game and made a pair of clutch foul shots. In all Nuytten scored his 25 points on 11 of 14 shooting plus he grabbed 11 boards for a double-double. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. Great Story to Follow</strong>. Simley 6-foot-2 scoring wing [player_tooltip player_id='1288738' first='Zach' last='Jacobson'] broke two different bones last year at Rosemount forcing him to miss much of the 2021-22 season. He got healthy last spring but tore his ACL while dunking in late April playing with Minnesota Select. Along the way Jacobson has grown a half a foot since entering high school and he's continued to grow a couple inches in the last year. Cleared to play, the explosive Simley wing opened his season with 21 points against St. Thomas Academy, 26 points against Hill-Murray, 24 against St. Paul Central, and 23 versus South St. Paul. Jacobson is recovering from the knee injury and is still getting his timing back, yet he's still been the most explosive player on the floor going at the rim in every game he has played. Jacobson has had to rest the leg a couple times sitting a few games to get back to full strength but he played against Hastings last night scoring 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting despite foul trouble. Jacobson made all of his foul shots, hit a three, and scored on some nice touch buckets going at the rim with his explosive leap going over the help. His move of the night was likely the gorgeous attacking spin move into a floater. This is a player that is still growing, still recovering from a surgery, but has flourished in the six games he has played. Surely a developing prospect that college coaches should keep an eye on. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. Hastings Future</strong>. Hastings could be setting up for a nice 2023-24 season. First of all, Chad Feikema is known for being a solid coach so you have that to start with. Leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id='1244764' first='Owen' last='Bernatz'] - scores 17.5 points a game and had 16 points last night including three threes despite serious foul trouble - is a junior and will be working towards moving up the all time Hastings scoring lists. Nuytten is a junior so he will be back and he's the second leading scorer and top rebounder. Third leading scorer Peyton Lee-Dean is also a junior, and last night's second half game changer Matthew Floss is a freshman! Throw in sophomore point guard [player_tooltip player_id='2109933' first='Kyan' last='Esterby'] also returning and that is a nice core of talent for next year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. Simley Young Star</strong>. Speaking of young star, if Max Preps is correct, and based on the fact that Tre Lovelace is not even on the MSHSL Simley roster I think it is (meaning he must have been moved up from the younger teams just recently), 8th grade Tre Lovelace could have a very bright future. Tre debuted against Hill-Murray two weeks ago and is steadily getting more time and steadily getting better. He had 11 points in the Simley loss to Mahtomedi. Last night might have been the Lovelace break out game because the 2027 talent made five threes scoring 22 points on 6 of 10 shooting (made all five foul shots too) and did it on the varsity floor. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->