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HomeSportsBasketballBlair Bears Fall Short in Hard-Fought Battle Against Hastings Tigers

Blair Bears Fall Short in Hard-Fought Battle Against Hastings Tigers

Reporting by Morgan Archer, Noah Ferguson, Jack Ortegren, and Edited by Don Harrold

Easton Bosanek, Blair High School Boys Varsity Basketball, Photo Credit: Morgan Archer

The Blair Bears varsity boys basketball team dropped a hard-fought home game to the Hastings Tigers on January 2, with a final score of 58-49. The loss drops the Bears to 3-4 on the season, while Hastings improves to 5-4.

The game opened with early scoring from both teams, as Hastings’ Chance Vertin struck first. Blair freshman Brevin Leggott, who would emerge as the Bears’ scoring leader with 15 points, answered with a three-pointer. Junior Bo Meier (#34) added momentum with both a layup and a three-pointer in the first quarter. Though Blair briefly held an 8-7 lead, Hastings pulled ahead to end the quarter up 13-10.

The Tigers found their rhythm in the second quarter, though junior Aidan Slominski (#30) opened with a three-pointer for Blair. Junior Hayden Daggett (#24) and Leggott each contributed layups, but Hastings senior Parker Ablott (#13) countered with both a layup and a three-pointer. Vertin caught fire, hitting two three-pointers en route to 12 first-half points as Hastings extended their lead to 26-19 at the break.

Coming out of halftime, Hastings stretched their advantage to 12 points, their largest lead of the game. The Bears responded with determination, outscoring Hastings 15-13 in the third quarter. Senior Cooper Sorensen (#10) and freshman Kalan Steinback (#32) each scored layups, while Leggott continued his hot hand with another three-pointer and layup. Ablott maintained his strong play for Hastings as the period ended with Blair trailing 39-34.

“Going through the game I focused on working hard and keeping the pressure on the other team,” Leggott said.

The fourth quarter saw Blair refusing to give up. Slominski added two layups, Meier contributed another, and both senior Easton Bosanek (#22) and Leggott sank three-pointers. The Bears mounted an impressive comeback, pulling within three points late in the game. However, Hastings sealed the victory with a decisive closing run, led by Vertin who finished with a game-high 19 points. Ablott added 16 points for the Tigers.

“We executed the game plan. We knew what they were good at and tried to take it away the best we could. We flew around, we were really active on defense, and came up with enough shots at the end to get the win,” said Hastings head coach Dylan Flinn.

“We always want to focus on great defense and rebounding, and so that’s always one of our goals going in is to be physically aggressive,” said Coach Whitwer.

“We had a lot of good looks that we wanted just didn’t finish inside the lane,” head coach, Chris Whitwer said. “Keep developing and get our intensity up a little bit… still had a lot of mistakes, a lot of them from not making your money shots, those things start to show up, being aware of who were playing and what’s coming up so we can minimize those mistakes”.

“I thought our boys did a good job fighting to get back… Ultimately, we weren’t able to fulfill it.” Whitwer added.

The Bears will look to bounce back when they host Bennington on Tuesday, January 7, while Hastings returns to action Friday, January 3, hosting Gretna East.

Bo Meier, Blair High School Boy’s Varsity Basketball, Photo Credit Noah Ferguson
Cooper Sorensen, Blair High School Boy’s Varsity Basketball, Photo Credit Noah Ferguson
Easton Bosanek, Blair High School Boy’s Varsity Basketball, Photo Credit Noah Ferguson
Kalan Steinbeck, Blair High School Boy’s Varsity Basketball, Photo Credit Noah Ferguson
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