Hastings
- Dec 15, 2019
- 6 min read
Hastings Broncos (6-5, 1-4) vs. Dordt Defenders (9-4, 3-3)
Saturday, December 15 @ 4:00 PM Hastings, NE
Lynn Farrell Arena
THE SCHOOL
Hastings College is a private Presbyterian liberal arts college in Hastings, Nebraska. They have an enrollment of 1,084 students and an endowment of nearly $60 million. Hastings was founded in 1882.
The Broncos compete in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) in Division II of the NAIA. The GPAC was known as the Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Conference until 1992 when they began inviting schools outside of Nebraska.
Dordt University is a private liberal arts university in Sioux Center, Iowa. They are affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church. The Defenders also compete in the GPAC.
THE TOWN
green=my apartment, blue=my office, yellow=previous games, red=this game
On Saturday afternoon, I left Lincoln just before 2 o'clock. I took I-80 west for 87 miles and then took Highway 34 south for 16 miles. As you can see on the map, Hastings is the furthest west I've been yet. Overall, it took me about an hour and forty-five minutes to get there. The drive was smooth and easy, if a little boring. On the way back, I got the largest 6" sandwich I've ever gotten at Big Dally's Deli #2. It was six inches long (as you would expect) but like five inches wide. I almost got the footlong, but that would have been way too much food.
Hastings has a population of about 25,000, which makes it the seventh-largest city in Nebraska. After driving around the town, I noticed there are two things the people of Hastings want you to know about their town. First, Kool-Aid was invented there. In 1927, Edwin Perkins created the powdered drink mix in his family's store and sold it around town. Kool-Aid grew internationally popular within just a few years, making the Perkins family very wealthy. While Kool-Aid is no longer manufactured in Hastings, the original store building still stands (that's where I took the picture) and the town has a Kool-Aid festival every summmer. Oh yeah.
The second thing to know about Hastings is that College Football Hall of Fame coach Tom Osborne is from there. He grew up in Hastings, went to school at Hastings College, and returned to serve Hastings' district in the House of Representatives after retiring from the University of Nebraska. The athletics area of the college is named after Osborne and his family.
Hastings College is one of the wealthiest schools I've gone to so far, and you can tell. They have about forty buildings spread out over 109 acres, making for an impressive appearance. Despite some buildings being pretty clearly older than others, they match well in terms of style and color. Hastings has obviously put quite a bit of money into their athletics department, and the Osborne Athletics Complex takes up a good chunk of campus.
The Broncos play their home games inside Lynn Farrell Arena. Lynn Farrell Arena is a physically impressive structure with red brick surrounding a huge window and glass doors at the front. The place looks like a quality basketball arena, and it is. It can seat over 2,000 people and, like Midland's arena, Lynn Farrell has a large new video board that they really like to use. Lynn Farrell Arena may not have had the quirks or personality as some of the courts I've seen, but it's an excellent place to catch a basketball game.
THE GAME
I got to the arena just after the women's leg of the doubleheader ended. I wanted to catch the end of this game because both Hastings' and Dordt's women's teams are ranked in the top six of their division. I found out that the Lady Broncos won in a rout, though, so I wasn't too disappointed I missed it. I paid $8 for a ticket and sat about five rows up. Since finals week just ended, there weren't very many students there. However, the Hastings community supports their team well, and the place had a good crowd regardless. I think I accidentally sat in the season ticket holder section because I was the youngest person on my side of the arena by about twenty-five years. The outlay of the court made it hard to estimate attendance, but there were certainly several hundred, maybe close to a thousand. It was a good, if reserved, crowd.
Most of Hastings' players were from Nebraska and most of Dordt's players were from Iowa. Nothing to see here. Hastings did have a guy on the roster from the African nation of Mali, but he's redshirting this year. Also, the Broncos have a 6'11" transfer from an NCAA Division I school, but he only saw 53 seconds of action. I was disappointed.
Hastings had my favorite uniform so far. Their all-white jerseys had a bit of a minimalist flair; they simply had their white horse logo on their chest and maroon numbering outlined in black below it. It was a very clean look. Dordt wore all black, with "DORDT" and the numbering in an old-style, yellow font. Both Hastings and Dordt wore Under Armour uniforms. They must have chosen the same template because both schools had identical striping on their shorts.
The game started promptly at four and it began as a defensive struggle. After five minutes Hastings led 6-5. Hastings had a strong interior defense led by #21, Bart Hiscock. Lynn Farrell Arena displays a banner that says Hiscock was an all-conference player last year, and he seems to deserve it. At the halfway point of the first half, things stayed the same and Hastings led 15-14, but then the offenses picked up. Bart Hiscock went to the bench and the Bronco defense suffered when he left. Three possessions in a row, Dordt drove the ball inside, sucking all Bronco defenders inside the three-point arc. However, Dordt left a trailing Dordt player open for 3 every time. They made all three attempts. Particularly, Dordt's #25, Josh Van Lingen, took over when Hiscock wasn't in the game. Van Lingen hit three three-point shots and easily worked his way inside to help the Defenders take a 31-22 lead five minutes before halftime. But, right before the half, Hastings' #5, Brendan Lipovsky, took the lead on offense. He lead the Broncos on a 12-7 run - scoring most of the points himself - to close out the half, leaving Hastings down 38-34. Overall, it ended up being a fast-paced first half, taking just over thirty minutes to complete.
Halftime was boring. It's probably better when more students are there, but all they did was show advertisements for local businesses on their video board.
In the second half, Hastings continued their run from before. Over the first 5:52, the Broncos went on a 9-0 run, taking a 41-38 lead by playing stifling defense. Hastings led by as much as five at 10:00; Dordt kept getting within one or two points but Hastings always hit a big shot. With 7:10 left, Dordt finally took a one-point lead (56-55), and this led to a back-and-forth affair that remained for the rest of the game. With 3:09 left, the Broncos took a 66-64 lead, and no one scored for almost the next 2 minutes. During this time, poor Hastings #1, Mason Hiemstra, got beat up. Hiemstra somehow hurt both his knees and got elbowed in the nose. Despite his injuries, he played the rest of the game. With under a minute and a half left, Dordt stole the ball and got an easy layup to tie the game at 66. Hastings then missed a shot, which Dordt turned into a made bucket and a two-point lead with thirty-six seconds remaining. Hastings couldn't put it together on offense and turned the ball over again. They intentionally fouled a Dordt player who made two free throws. Hastings now had a four point deficit after being in the lead just one minute before. Hastings got fouled on a shot attempt when they went back down the court, and cut the lead to two after hitting both free throws. With eleven seconds on the clock, Hastings intentionally fouled Dordt again. This time, the Defender missed the front end of the one-and-one and gave Hastings a chance to tie or take the lead. The Broncos got it to their best player, Hiscock, for a three-point attempt right before the buzzer sounded, but it was wide right. Hastings couldn't recover the lead they blew, and they lost by two.
Final: Dordt 70, Hastings 68
With Hastings' defeat, the last five teams I've gone to see have all lost. Maybe my presence is a curse, or maybe the basketball teams in this state just aren't very good. Regardless, watch out, Nebraska!
Next up: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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