Miners keep improving

Despite having just six players, the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners appear determined to try and hold their own against teams with deeper benches.

The small team of Miners faced two teams from the 1A Southwest Conference as they hosted the Saratoga Panthers on January 25 and were hosted by the Farson-Eden Pronghorns on January 29.

Miners vs. Panthers

The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miner High School basketball team hosted the Saratoga Panther basketball team on January 25 to a game that showed the home fans that their team is improving as the season moves forward.

In the first few moments of the game, the Miners went up 4-0 before the Panthers moved ahead with some 3-point shooting. Still the top ranked Panthers were only ahead 12-6 at the end of the 1st quarter.

"I have to give Coach Williams a lot of credit for the sportsmanship he brought to the game," HEM head coach Cliff Jones said. "He didn't start all his top varsity kids. I believe there was a mix of varsity and JV."

The Panthers never went behind but the Miners did their best to keep it close. With 6:49 in the 2nd quarter, it was 8-12. and with 4:39 left, it 10-16 in the Panthers favor. The Panthers kept hitting the key shot just as the Miners looked like they might get within 2 points. At the very last minute of the 2nd quarter, the Panthers looked to be pulling way ahead. At half-time it was 29-14 in favor of the Panthers.

The 3rd quarter the Panthers did more scoring and with four minutes left in the period, it 40-16 in favor of the visiting team. The Miners didn't give up and did all the scoring the last three minutes. Starting at the 4th quarter, the score was 40-23 with the Panthers on top. Within 30 seconds into the period the Panthers hit a 3-pointer and the Miners responded with two points of their own. With five minutes left, the score was 27-43 with the Panthers looking to be in control of the game' outcome. With a little over two minutes left in the game, the Panthers were ahead 46-32. This did not stop the Miners from trying to get points on the board. The score ended with a Panthers victory 48-35.

"We showed some good things and we continued to work hard as a group," Jones said. "That is alway a plus."

Miners vs. Pronghorns

On Saturday, the Miners faced the Farson-Eden Pronghorns. Jones said the team started out well, especially with defense, but acknowledged the shooting game of the Miners was not strong.

"We had stretches we played well like we did in Saratoga, especially with defense," Jones said. "We didn't take care of the ball as much as we have in the past few games and we ended up with too many turnovers."

Jones said that the Pronghorns played 12 to 14 players throughout the duration of the game.

"I am not so worried about a team playing so many different players when we only have six guys, because I think that is great," Jones said. "Other coaches who know it is a varsity game and they would treat it as such and play only their top seven kids and the score would be much more lopsided."

The score ended in the Pronghorns' favor 56-28.

Jones is seeing good things with his players.

"Overall I thought Hayden (Atencio) had a good week of basketball," Jones said. "I think freshman Cody Priest has come a long ways. He has really improved with the understanding of what we are trying to do and he starting to do some good things. He is a young player that is getting a lot of varsity playing experience and he is starting be an asset to the team."

The lone senior Dylan Romero is dealing with being keyed on by other teams.

"We are a work in progress," Jones said. "And as long as we are making progress. it is worth keeping working on."

The HEM Miners will have had a make-up game against the Midwest Oilers on January 31.

The Miners will host the Encampment Tigers at 4 p.m. on February 4 and the Rock River Longhorns at noon on February 5.