Miners digging for wins

The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners hosted the Encampment Tigers on Friday.

The Tigers, considered one of the best teams in the state, showed why they are so highly regarded at the Miners expense.

That is not to say there were'nt some bright moments for HEM. In the beginning minutes, the Miners kept the Tigers to 6 points. Devon Grosstick hit a three-pointer with only four minutes left in the 1st quarter making the score 3-10. The Tigers started to roar on the court and the Miners didn't have an answer to stop them. At half-time it was 11-45.

In the second half of the game, there was some good defense displayed by the Miners, but the team was out matched. By the time the game was over, the Miners had lost 18-70.

Grosstick scored 16 points and Ura Schmidt got 2 points for the Miners.

Head Coach Cliff Jones said there was work to do.

"We just have to improve our game overall," Jones said. "We have had 23 practices, and we still have not had everybody there. We have to get in the gym and practice and we have to get more confidence."

Jones said he is impressed with Taylor Widdison's play. 

"Taylor has really stepped up his game," Jones said. "Ura Schmidt is another who is helping lead the team. It is nice that these kids are stepping up and becoming leaders on the floor."

Jones gave credit to Encampment for being a great team.

"We have lost to them in recent years by 20 and 30 points," Jones said. "This year it was just more points. We knew, coming in, we were probably out matched."

Dubois

The Miners were on the road the next day facing Dubois. Unfortunately, the Miners had another loss of 38-70.

"70 seems to be the magic number for the opposing team, it is just too bad our number isn't higher," Jones said. "But Dubois is much improved from when we played them two years ago."

Jones credited Schmidt to keeping Dubois' leading scorer to eight points.

"This kid is one of the leading scorers in the state and Ura did a great job of handling him," Jones said. "Unfortunately, their guards spread us out on the floor."

Jones said although the two losses in a row aren't a great feeling, he can't say he isn't getting good effort from his players. He added there is a lot of work to do to get competitive against many teams that they have to play.

"We are six games into the season and are 3-3 and it isn't where we want to be, but that is where we are at," Jones said. "A lot of players don't have varsity experience and now we are asking them to play in high pressure situations."

He said defense was doing well in spurts.

"What we aren't able to stop is the runs," Jones said. "We also have to find more consistent scorers. Against Dubois, Devon had 22 points, Widdison had 11, Dylan (Romero) had 4 points and Ura had one. We have to find some others to score to take the pressure off Devon. Besides half the fun of basketball is scoring and right now we have to find some kids who want to score."

Jones is hoping the team's next game will go better.

"Friday we play Rock River and I hope we will be more competitive," Jones said. "After that it is Farson on Saturday here at home. I put them up there with Encampment as far as defense goes. It will be a challenge."