“Going three and one isn’t bad,” Cliff Jones, head coach for Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School basketball said of the varsity team. “Of course a coach likes to win every game.”
The Carbon County Invitational held in Hanna on Friday had HEM host Meeteetse and beat the Longhorns 78-45. Also on Friday, the Miners played Dubois who gave the HEM basketball team a closer game but still lost 65-50.
The Miners found themselves down 7 points early against St. Josephs but took the lead 22-21 in the second quarter. The Eagles were ahead at halftime 27-24.
Devon Grosstick gave the Miners a lift putting the team ahead 45-35 in the fourth quarter. However, the Eagles were not done. They kept the Miners from scoring for several minutes and, with six minutes left, the score was 45-41. Then with less than a minute left it was 57-55. Grosstick had missed four free throws in row, but hit two with 25 seconds left making it 59-55. The Eagles scored again in the last seconds, but the Miners took the win.
The fourth game of the invite, against Hayden, had a different outcome. It was a tight game until the last 40 seconds when Hayden pulled ahead to win the game. The Tigers and Miners exchanged leads, but when the Miners were down three points in the third quarter, Jones put his second team in. The Miners didn’t suffer with these player’s efforts.
“I put the B team in to give them practice and to hope maybe it would spark the starters,” Jones said. “I wanted the boys who don’t normally play to feel the pressure of a real game—and they did a great job.”
The score was 52-48 with 45 seconds left and the home crowd had hopes of a Miners win. Seconds later it was 54-50 and HEM had to start fouling and the game was lost 57-50.
“Losing makes you better as long as you learn from it,” Jones said.
Jones has confidence his team will do just that.
The next scheduled game is at 4:30 p.m. on Dec 14 at HEM against the Laramie Sophomores.
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