Miners lose in 3-point barrage

On Friday, the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School boys basketball team faced the Laramie Plainsmen sophomore basketball team and had to leave with their first loss of the season.

The Plainsmen beat the Miners 66-50.

“We played a pretty solid team in Laramie last Friday night,” Cliff Jones, HEM head basketball coach said. “They were pretty physical defensively.”

Jones said the toughest part of the game was how strong Laramie was with their three point shooting.

“They had good size and shot the ball unbelievably well, going 12-19 from the three point line,” Jones said.

That is 63 percent shooting of three pointers.

Jones knows that sort of shooting is going to be tough to win against and took the loss as a learning event for the team.

“Although we lost it was a good experience, the type of game that will make us better moving forward,” Jones said. Shane McGraw had 19 points and 8 rebounds. Brendan Reeves had 18 points and 9 rebounds to lead the way, Jones pointed out.

“I thought that Basil Phillips played more relaxed and did a nice job overall,” Jones said of a player that was hurt last year.

A loss is not easy to take said Jones, but he is still happy with his team. He just knows there is more work to be done as the season goes further.

“We will have to get some gym time in over break as we get back to school on the the third of January and play on the fourth,” Jones said knowing their next game is against Wheatland.