The Tigers have not had the best luck in district play, falling to the Giddings Buffalos by just two points, 67-65, on Tuesday, Jan. 19 away from home.
“Tuesday was a heartbreaker,” said head coach Cyril Adkins. “We held a 20-point lead at the half and couldn’t finish. The bottom line is we have to play to win. We can’t play not to lose – there’s a big difference.”
Smithville had an outstanding first half, outscoring Giddings 29-9 in the first quarter alone.
However, they let the Buffalos outscore them 18-11 in the third quarter and 23-10 in the final quarter, leading to a difficult loss.
Tiger Coltyn Brown led his team with 23 points, while teammate Oscar Kenebrew followed him with 17.
Other scoring players were Adam Hahn (9), Reece Fierro (7), Jacob Hannusch (4), Joe Crank (3), Wade Childress (3) and Dominique Ward (2).

Bellville
Last Friday night, the Tigers had the same problem with finishing the game against the Bellville Brahmas, losing 74-62 in front of their home crowd.
Smithville let Bellville outscore them 34-16 in the fourth, which ultimately took the game out of their hands.
“The team is playing hard, we just have to get a killer instinct and finish games,” Adkins said. “We have to pick up the intensity on the defensive end in the fourth quarter.”
The Tigers had a good start to their game, outscoring the Brahmas 20-13 in the first quarter. However, the Tigers’ defense did not quite hold up to their opponents in the final quarter.
Kenebrew had a game-high 22 points, while teammate Crank followed him with 16.
“I thought Oscar Kenebrew and Joe Crank played well,” Adkins said. “Oscar had 11 points in the fourth quarter.”
Other scoring players were Hannusch (8), Brown (6), Dominique Green (4), Childress (4) and Fierro (2).
Bellville’s Kennedy and Knoll led their team with 17 points each.
Their other scoring players were Browning with 13 points and Healey with nine.
The Tigers have a total of six wins and 11 losses. They are 0-3 in district play.