Campbell 64 Gibbs 54

By Clayton Carroll

STRAWBERRY PLAINS, TN (WLAF) – It is Christmas tourney time for the Campbell County Cougars. The Orange-and-Blue travelled to Strawberry Plains on Saturday to participate in round one of the Christmas Shootout at Carter High School.

Campbell County and Gibbs tipped off at 10:30am on Saturday, and despite the early start time, Campbell blitzed out to an early lead, controlling the opening quarter. Even with the illness bug biting one of Campbell’s starters, Jake Hatmaker, the Cougars still led 17-8 at the end of the first quarter. 

Sam Sexton dribbles inside during Saturday afternoon’s contest

The Eagles, however, soared back during the second frame, chopping the Cougars’ lead down to two points by the halftime break at 31-29.

Koalton Cupp launches a free throw

During the third and fourth quarters, the Orange-and-Blue were able to re-build its lead. Campbell was in front 49-41 at the end of the third quarter, and during the fourth led by as many as 13. When the final horn sounded, the Cougars edged the Eagles 64-54. 

Campbell County is now 4 and 7 on the year while Gibbs remains winless through eight games.

“I thought overall everybody played extremely hard and got the job done today in difficult situations,” said Cougar Head Coach Ernie Mac Clawson. 

Will Croley was tops for the Cougars in the scoring column with 21 points. Caden Heatherly, who started in place of Jake Hatmaker, finished with an impressive 13 points. Koalton Cupp was the third Cougar in double digits with 11 points. Jack Sexton scored nine points. Hunter Dotson racked up six points during the afternoon. Sam Sexton had four points, and David Smith played but did not score.

Will Croley skies and scoops up a layup

Campbell now advances to the semifinal of the Carter tourney, where they will face Heritage at 6:30 pm on Monday. “They’re a Top 10 team in 3A, and they have a top-50 player in Tennessee (6’5″ Senior Eli Williams),” mentioned Coach Clawson. They run a lot of sets and are well-coached. We’ve got a huge challenge on our hands on Monday,” added Clawson.

Join the “Voice of the Cougars” Josh Parker for all the fun over WLAF beginning at 6:20pm. The WLAF Doyle’s Tire Sports Network spans ten WLAF media platforms. Listen beginning Saturday at 10:30am 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 12-29-25 – PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHEENA CUPP)

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