Miners go 1-1 over weekend

The first game of the season for the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners was against Riverside on Friday. The mask and social distancing protocols for attending the game by both teams were adhered to at this home game. Tickets were needed for fans to attend.

Riverside

The Miners started out scoring first and built up a 5 point lead before the Riverside Rebels scored their first points. HEM hit a 3 pointer with a six minutes left in the first quarter, making the score 8-2 and the Miners looked to be in control. Riverside adjusted and started swarming Devon Grosstick, who had hit two 3 pointers. In addition, the Rebels started to score some points.

At the end of the 1st quarter, the Miners were ahead by 4 points 10-6. The Miners stayed in control and, with four minutes left in the 2nd quarter were ahead 16-11. Riverside then had two unanswered scores and, with two minutes left in the quarter, the Miners were only ahead by one point at 16-15. It didn't get better. The Rebels hit a 3 pointer just as the 1st half ended taking the lead 16-18.

The Rebels were the first to score in the 3rd quarter and they were ahead by 4 points. Grosstick hit a 3 pointer and the Miners were within a point of the Rebels 19-20. The Rebels stopped the Miners cold as they started racking up points. With two minutes left in the 3rd quarter it was 219-28. The Miners got their second score with a little over a minute left in the 3rd quarter and the score was 21-30. That would be the last time the Miners would score in that quarter. HEM went into the 4th quarter down 21-34. The Miners were not getting rebounds on either side. While their scoring did improve, Riverside was hitting buckets too. With two minutes left, the Miners were down 28-44. One more 3 pointer was hit by HEM to put the final score at 31-50.

"Give Riverside credit," Head Coach Cliff Jones said. "They made adjustments after the 1st quarter and they honed on the kids that were shooting well for our team. We don't have a lot of returning experience although the boys worked really hard."

Jones said Riverside's defensive adjustment in the 2nd half worked.

"They did what needed to be done and it took us out of our game and we were slow to adjust back. It wasn't something we were doing wrong;  give Riverside credit for doing really good things to change it up from the 1st quarter."

He said the team still had players that needed to find their roles.

"We are going to have to figure out who will be the leaders as the season goes on. We gave up 27 offensive rebounds," Jones said. "But like I told the boys, one game does not define the season. This is one game out of 18 to get to our goals in February. The good thing is we only have one day to think about the loss, because we play again tomorrow."

Midwest

After their first game, and also their first loss the day before, the Miners were looking to learn from their mistakes.

It was clear in the first minutes of their game against Midwest, the Miners were playing a game to win. In the 1st quarter with 3:35 left, the Miners went into double figures while Midwest had yet to score. The Oilers did score on some free throws and with two minutes left in the 1st quarter, it was 14-2. The quarter finished and HEM was ahead 20-2. 

Both teams scored in the first minute of the 2nd quarter as the score went 22-4. Midwest hit a 3 pointer and then HEM scored two baskets back-to-back. With five minutes left in the half, the score was 26-7. The Miners got the score to 40-13 by the time the quarter was over.

The 3rd quarter was again dominated by HEM. The Miners scored 12 points in the 3rd quarter, while the Oilers put up 5 points. The score was 52-18 going into the 4th quarter.

Midwest hit a 3 pointer and then another and the Oilers were making some inroads to the score at 56-26. Jones had put in younger players by this time, but they didn't falter. Rayce Ward, a sophomore, had a play that made the crowd shout as he hit an Oiler player bringing the ball in and then taking the ball inside for a score. It was 59-28,

That was the ending score.

"The skill level of Riverside versus Midwest was decidedly different and in turn affected our skill level," Jones said. "Today's game was a little bit slower so it enabled us to get back in positon which was important to us."

He said because this game was not as fast, it allowed the Miners to extend their defense and work on offense patterns.

"We had a few players hit double figures and that will always help," Jones said. "Honestly, as I said yesterday, a lot of our kids are searching for an identity. Are they a rebounder, a scorer, things like that."

He said not to take away from the win, but Riverside was a team that had higher caliber players than Midwest. 

"We proved today we can play at a high level against a team like Midwest," Jones said. "Our next step is be able to play at this level against better teams. The game of basketball is a lot of fun when you are able to be competitive."

The next scheduled game is at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday at HEM against the Wheatland Sophomores.