Miners look for more ways to improve

"Playing Saratoga, I found they never put any press on us," Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School Head Coach Cliff Jones said. "Other top teams like Burlington and Southeast pressed the entire game."

Jones feels Saratoga is the best team the Miners have played this year. "I feel they could have beaten us much worse if they had wanted to," Jones said. "We scored most of our points when they put their JV team in the 4th quarter."

Jones called the Panther players disciplined. "They are a good, good basketball team," Jones said. "They are well coached and the kids were polite and respectful. They are the real deal."

The next game played by the Miners was against the Midwest Oilers where the Miners won 48 to 39.

"I thought Hayden Atencio had a great game," Jones said. "He scored 28 points. Kyler Proffitt had 11 points." Jones said because it does not happen often, at the moment, when the Miners are ahead in the 4th quarter, they have to do their best to figure out how to stay in the lead. "We have only won five games in the past two years," Jones said. "So when we are ahead, we have to figure out a way to stay ahead."

Then the next day on January 14, the Miners met Meeteetsee and lost 57 to 37. "We didn't play as well as some other games, but it was still a good experience," Jones said. "It helped us get ready for the Natrona JV." Jones said the JV of Natrona are excellent because there are two hundred kids wanting to be on the team. "They have this big pool of kids wanting to play, where I would dream to have so many players to choose from," Jones said. "We played them well though. They were only up by two points at half-time. The Natrona JV had 24 points and HEM 22 points going into half-time. Then they came out hungry and went ahead. Those kids on the team are playing for a spot. If one kid doesn't do well, then he is quickly replaced. There is real competition for a spot on the team." Natrona JV won 62 to 32. "Of course we want to win, but we have to look at the big picture," Jones said. "It is not only looking at this year, but also looking at what we might be in two years. Also hopefully we are teaching the boys life lessons that they will take out into the real world."

The Miners play Rock River on Friday.