HC looks to inside game, depth for bounce-back season

Armed with a restored frontcourt, some returning experience and an overseas summer bonding trip, Hastings College enters the season determined to close the gap on the Great Plains Athletic Conference.

Coach Todd Raridon said the team’s path to growth starts by fixing a late-game trend that plagued Hastings last season: letting tight contests slide away in the final 10 minutes. To jumpstart chemistry, Hastings traveled to Portugal and Spain in late July and early August, playing three games against European club teams.

“The biggest thing with that is just kind of an early start with returning players,” said Raridon, whose team is coming off an 8-21 season (7-13 GPAC) that ended with a loss to top-seeded Morningside (Iowa) in the conference tournament quarterfinals. “We’re fortunate that we had the chance to go and took advantage of it. We actually took some new kids with us as well, so I think it was a great trip and great experience.”

Hastings gets its 2026-27 season underway at 3 p.m. Friday against Valley City State (North Dakota) in the Corn Palace at Mitchell, South Dakota, as part of the Dakota Wesleyan Classic. The Broncos will take on Bethany (Kansas) at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

HC’s trip to Europe highlighted the exact area Raridon aims to fix this winter. In their final game in Spain, the Broncos played well for 30 minutes before physical opposition wore them down — a dynamic Raridon saw repeatedly last season.

“We were in a lot of games and had chances, but too often it just kind of got away at the end,” Raridon said. “That’s something we’re working hard to get corrected.”

To solve the issue, the Broncos are reshaping their offensive philosophy around post scoring after relying heavily on perimeter jump shots last year.

A major piece of that interior rebuilding effort is the return of 6-foot-5 senior forward Makhiah Tarver, who missed all but three games last season due to a knee injury. Hastings also added 6-8 redshirt-junior forward Nate Parras, a transfer from Iowa Western Community College.

The additional size allows versatile returners like redshirt-junior Micah Hinrichs and redshirt-senior Owen Wright to slide back to more perimeter-oriented roles rather than battling out of position down low. Hinrichs averaged 11.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in 2025-26.

“Probably the biggest thing that we’ve really focused on going into this year is just getting the ball inside,” Raridon said. “Being able to score around the rim puts a little more defensive pressure on the other team to help, which opens up the perimeter game more for us. Consistent inside scoring has been something that we probably missed the last three years, really.”

Hastings must replace top scorer DaRon Hall, an All-GPAC First Team selection who averaged 18.4 points per game last year. However, Raridon views the transition as an opportunity to build a more balanced attack.

“My best teams have never had a true 20-plus points-per-game scorer,” Raridon said. “The ability to share the basketball is going to be important for us and I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.

“We’ve had kids doing some really good things in practice in terms of moving and making the extra pass to get open shots, whether that’s inside or outside, and that’s always a positive.”

Leading that perimeter committee are senior point guard Ben Boudreau and junior guard Maverick Binder. Boudreau averaged 14 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists last season, while Binder earned All-GPAC honorable mention after delivering 12.4 points, five rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest.

“Ben Boudreau and Maverick Binder have been good leaders out there on the perimeter,” Raridon said. “Obviously, they can score. Both of them can get downhill, pull up, pass the ball well and be in attack mode.”

The Broncos also have some bench depth. Shelton redshirt-sophomore forward Riley Bombeck (3.1 ppg in 11.4 minutes) and Wright (1.8 ppg in 24 games) return to the rotation, alongside redshirt-junior guard Evan Humphrey.

As always, Hastings faces a rugged league schedule in the GPAC. The Broncos were picked to finish 10th in the preseason poll, while Concordia was tabbed to win the conference, followed by Morningside and Dordt (Iowa).

“I’ve always felt like the GPAC is one of the better conferences in the country as far as NAIA basketball is concerned,” Raridon said. “The GPAC is a league where if you’re not ready to play, it’s going to be a long night for you. You’ve got to come ready to compete.”