It’s not easy playing without one of your best players and it showed Tuesday at Escambia Academy. The Cougars managed to beat Sparta Academy, but they were without point guard Jordan Sasser. Sparta had the ball with less than 10 seconds to play, but Garrett Kirk came up with a big block to seal the game for the Cougars, who won by a final score of 43-41.

Kirk’s final block was only one of a team-high total of six he had throughout the game. Kirk also led the team in points with 18, rebounds with 19, steals with three, and contributed two assists.

For more on this continuing story, see Saturday’s edition of The Atmore Advance.