East Ridge boys basketball: Raptors bounce back from loss to Woodbury, beat Hastings

The East Ridge boys basketball team bounced back from a 20-point loss at rival Woodbury last week with a 52-50 win over Suburban East Conference foe Hastings on Friday, Jan. 6, at East Ridge High School.

In the win, East Ridge (5-5; 2-1 SEC) ran out to a 31-21 halftime lead then hung on against a scrappy Hastings squad.

East Ridge senior Justin Pahl led all scorers in the game with 17 points and sophomore Brian Ishola dropped 15 points to help the Raptors earn the win. In addition, junior center Conrad Sexe had eight points and senior Jared Morris chipped in six points in the win over the Raiders (6-4; 1-2 SEC).

In its rivalry game against Woodbury, however, the Royals were too much, too soon for the Raptors. Woodbury, which is undefeated and in first place in the conference, opened up a 35-18 lead on East Ridge and outscored the Raptors 29-26 in the second half to earn the 64-44 home-court win on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

Pahl, who leads the team in scoring at 21.3 points per game, was the lone Raptors player to reach double figures against the guard-heavy Royals (8-2; 4-0 SEC) with 12 points. East Ridge senior guard Yaroslav Doroshenko chipped in nine points in the win.

East Ridge traveled to Forest Lake on Tuesday, Jan. 10, after the Bulletin went to print.

Next, the Raptors journey to Mounds View on Friday, Jan. 13.

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