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Wlaf1450Heritage 68 Campbell 35
By Clayton Carroll
STRAWBERRY PLAINS, TN (WLAF) – After defeating Gibbs on Saturday morning, the Campbell County Cougars earned a spot in the Carter Christmas Shootout semifinal against the Heritage Mountaineers. The Cougars and Mountaineers met up on Monday evening at Williams Gym.
Heritage, 12 and 3 on the season, was “quite the challenge” according to Cougar Head Coach Ernie “Mac” Clawson, and this proved to be the case.
It was all Mountaineers from the opening tip on Monday night
Heritage never trailed and was ahead 14-5 at the end of the first quarter, and it built that lead to 33-16 by halftime.
Will Croley rises and fires from eight feet out.
The third and fourth quarters were much the same. Heritage’s defense was shutting down Campbell’s offense, and the Mountaineers’ size, speed, and shooting ability proved superior. Heritage defeated Campbell 68-35.
Jake Hatmaker, coming back from illness, was the Kitts Paint and Body Shop Player of the Game, scoring nine points. Koalton Cupp put up a solid eight points. Hunter Dotson finished with five points. Will Croley scored four points. Sam Sexton and Caden Heatherly both tallied three points. Jack Sexton totaled two points. Braydon Graham contributed one point. Braxton Fox, David Smith, and Asher Foust all played but did not score.
Jake Hatmaker readies to pass to a cutting Sam Sexton
“We knew how good they (Heritage) were coming in…their defensive physicality took us out of what we wanted to do, and eventually Heritage was going to get hot, and they did,” said Assistant Head Coach Brandon Clawson. The Cougars drop to 4 and 8 on the season.
Campbell still has an opportunity to finish third in the tourney as the Orange-and-Blue will face the Lakeway Christian Lions Tuesday afternoon at 4:30. Lakeway Christian Academy, of White Pine, lost to the host team, Carter, 64-54 on Monday. Campbell also has a loss to the Hornets, 80-76. That came in overtime on Dec. 19 at John Brown Gym.
The Cougars and Lions tip-off this afternoon at Jim Williams Gymnasium at Carter in the consolation game of the Carter Christmas Shootout at 4:30 pm.
Join the “Voice of the Cougars” Josh Parker for all the audio-only fun over WLAF beginning at 4:20pm. The WLAF Doyle’s Tire Sports Network spans ten WLAF media platforms. Listen over WLAF TV-1089 on Comcast-Xfinity,1450wlaf.com, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, WLAF Radio AM 1450 & FM 100.9 and Amazon Alexa.
(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 12-30-25 6AM)