CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The West Creek Coyotes met up with the East Nashville Eagles at Kirkwood High School for the inaugural Wyatt Johnson-Hyundai Cobras Christmas Classic on Friday. A back-and-forth contest saw the two teams head into the fourth quarter tied, but 27 points from Coyote forward Kamden Hines were enough to edge out the Eagles at the buzzer, 55-52.
The first half was a wild, fast-paced contest, but neither team could consistently find the bottom of the net. West Creek guard Kameron Bowers led the way with 8 points at the halftime break, but the Coyotes trailed by 4.
The two teams went blow for blow again in the third quarter, this time with West Creek tying it up heading into the final eight minutes. Enter Kamden Hines. Hines scored the team’s first 9 points of the quarter and scored 17 points in the final eight minutes alone. The biggest of those buckets was a three-pointer to give West Creek its first lead since the first quarter with 40 seconds left, 52-50.
“He just had a will to win,” said West Creek head coach Matthew Hardaway. “He’s learned to step up in the big moments, and to trust his teammates in those moments as well. They played together, and he was a complete senior in that moment.”
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The game wasn’t over yet, though, as West Creek managed to get one more stop, and Bowers dropped in a layup to extend the lead to four. The Eagles responded with a bucket of their own, forcing them to foul Bowers with 10 seconds left. He only made the first, leaving the gate open for a game-tying three, but two missed threes in the final 10 seconds were all she wrote, and West Creek escaped with a win.
“That’s a tough team, and we fought through a slow start,” said Hardaway. “It’s a good win against a solid team, but we want to take it one game at a time, and prepare to try to come out with another win on Saturday.”
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