Despite going 0-2 at State, Miners see bright spots

Miners at State

The Miners left at 8 a.m Thursday from Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School on with a send off from the students, not only from the high school, but also Hanna Elementary.

Students from both schools lined up to wish the players good luck at State.

Encampment

Unfortunately, the good wishes didn't translate to their first match against the No. 2 seeded Carbon County team, Encampment. HEM was seeded No. 3.

The game did not start not well for the Miners as the Tigers took the lead 19-4 in the first quarter. The second quarter had more scoring than the first, but the Tigers put up 18 more points to the Miners 10. At halftime the score was 37-14 in favor of the Valley team.

The Miners scored 14 points in the third quarter, but the Tigers had 24 points. At one point the Tigers were ahead 36 points. The fourth quarter had the Miners outscore the Tigers 20-16, but the score remained lopsided with the Tigers winning 77-48.

Conor McGraw scored 19 points and had 5 rebounds. His twin brother, Shane, was the second leading scorer with 11 points.

Encampment eventually came in second at State in the finals, losing to Farson-Eden in overtime.

Burlington

At noon on Friday, the Miners faced the Burlington Huskies and the first quarter played competitively, although the Huskies were ahead 17-14. The second quarter went badly for the Miners as the Huskies scored 27 points to the Miners 11. At halftime it was 44-28 in favor of Burlington. The third quarter, HEM played close with the Huskies scoring 16 points to the Miners 12. The score before the fourth quarter was 60-40. HEM gave it a good shot to try and come back scoring 15 points to the Huskies 6 points, but the deficit was too great. The Miners lost 66-52, ending their time at State.

C. McGraw scored in double digits at 25. He was the only player to do so and also had 6 rebounds. Shane had 7 points and 5 rebounds. Brendon Reeves got 5rebounds. Devon Grosstick scored 9 points.

Although the Miners did not go as far in the state tournament, the season still had bright spots.

Coach Cliff Jones said the team played decent at times at State, although the two losses stopped them from going deep in the tournament.

"We have some work to do to get where we want to be at the end of the season," Jones said. "I thought Devon Grosstick, Jase Smith and Conor McGraw all had good tournament play. Next year we will be pretty senior heavy and its time we put in some work and take our games to the next level."

C. McGraw, who hit 1,000 points (see "Shooting for the Record" on page 16 of the Jan. 30 Saratoga Sun) was named to the All-State Team. S. McGraw, who also hit 1,000 points this season (see "1,000 point club adds third year player" on page 6), Reeves and Grosstick were named to All-Conference.

"We had a good season," Jones said. "But we didn't reach all our goals and we feel like we left a little on the table."