HEM takes digs on the court

"Not our best weekend of basketball," Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners Head Coach Cliff Jones remarked. "We did however play three very good teams in Farson, Wind River and Kaycee."

Miners vs. Pronghorns

The first game, against the Farson-Eden Pronghorns, had the Miners in a rematch on January 28. Like the first time the two teams met, HEM played a good 1st quarter and kept the score close before Farson-Eden took control.

"Four minutes into the 1st quarter it was 7-13 and we were playing pretty well," Jones said. "Then maybe we started looking to take shortcuts and, against a team like Farson, you can't take shortcuts and have to be methodical in what you do."

Jones said Farson-Eden took HEM out of their game play and started imposing their will.

"They got us out of the game we were comfortable with and I was unable to make the adjustments at the time and we fell into a trap and we got down pretty big and pretty fast," Jones said. "We have to decide that we are going to play as hard we did in the beginning of the 1st quarter for 32 minutes, not eight minutes."

He said Farson-Eden played very well shooting the ball and good defense.

"They did a lot of things we would like to emulate," Jones said. "If we want to take our program to the next level, we have to be able to play with teams like Farson, Encampment, Saratoga and teams of that caliber. Really, the Southwest Conference is so strong and if a team is going to play in the state tournament, it has to be able to compete at their levels."

Jones said he cannot fault how hard his team trains, but losing so many starters from last year and with few junior varsity (JV) games last year, many players don't have much time on the court and are getting their playing time now.

"Last year our JV got a total of 14 quarters," Jones pointed out. "We knew last year we were going pay the price."

Farson won 30-70.

Miners vs. Cougars

On January 29 the Miners faced the 2A Wind River Cougars.

Again, in the beginning of the game, the Miners played good defense and the score was close. Wind River then went on a scoring run and, as the half approached, the Miners were down 10-40. Devon Grosstick hit a couple three-pointers back-to-back and more scoring had the Miners down 22-43 going into the half.

HEM scored first in the 3rd quarter and then again. The Miners were down 27-43. The Miners played extremely well that quarter and actually were closing in before Wind River made a run. Although the Miners didn't get closer than 12 points, the team proved it wouldn't give up even after being in a very deep debt from the first half. Miners lost 52-77.

"I look at the 1st quarter and it was like yesterday where we played close. It's 6-8 four minutes into the game and they were beating us by two. At halftime they were beating us by almost 25," Jones said. "At the end, that was the difference. We still need to be able to play hard for 32 minutes. It was a continuation of last night."

Still, Jones was happy with how the team played the second half.

"We scored 30 points the 2nd half and that is a lot of points for us and I thought we did a better job of attacking," Jones said. "Our younger players–Kyler Proffitt, Jesse Deegan and Hayden Atencio–filled in for an under-the-weather Taylor Kennedy and Rayce Ward who tweaked his knee in Farson and didn't suit up. Those kids stepped up."

Miners vs. Bucaroos

On January 30 the Miners went to Kaycee to face another strong team in the state, the Bucaroos. The Miners again put in effort, but could not prevail. The Miners lost 31-61.

Jones found bright spots over the three day period.

"I was very impressed with Ura Schmidt," Jones said. "He continues to work hard on the defensive end. He is doing a lot good things and is having a positive impact on our younger players."

Again he mentioned Proffitt and Deegan.

"I felt that Jesse and Kyler both did some very nice things this weekend," Jones said. "Kyler was the second leading scorer (Grosstick was the leading scorer) over the past three games and his first varsity start on Saturday against Kaycee."

The Miners are 4-8 overall and 1-1 in the Southeast Conference.

"Moving forward we have to continue to work on fundamentals and try to build confidence in ourselves and our abilities," Jones concluded.

The Miners are slated to play Rock River on Saturday at Rock River.