CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Clarksville Academy Cougars boys basketball team took a trip to “The Pit” at Kirkwood High School for an in-city matchup with the Cobras.
Damarius Smith, Clarksville Academy’s head coach, faced off against his former high school coach, John Stigall, who coached him when he was at Kenwood High School. Despite the Cougar’s best efforts, Stigall got the best of his former player, with Kirkwood pulling out a win 59-29.
Throughout the game, Kirkwood was able to stifle a usually potent offensive attack from Academy. While the Cougars didn’t get the result they wanted, head coach Smith was proud of the way his guys fought.
“We were able to put up a fight despite being down,” said Smith. “The experience and the lesson learned from this game is a positive for us, we just have to not get fatigued as the game goes on. As we continue to push through the season with this young bunch, I think these experiences are going to put us exactly where we need to be in late January.”
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For the Cobras, it’s a huge in-city win, and their second by double digits in only two games. While the intense defense was the main story of the night, combo guard Linkoln Schwass led the way with 26 points, including four threes.
“We’ve been defending at a very high level, and we continued that tonight,” said Stigall. “We had some guys step up and make some shots. We’re playing very clean basketball right now, but we have a long way to go, so we just have to continue to improve and get better.”
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