Republic Tigers split two games last week

The Republic basketball team got to play the roles of both David and Goliath in two games last week. The Tigers beat Class 3 Clever Tuesday night before losing to defending Oklahoma state champion Tulsa Memorial Friday in the Ozark Mountain Shootout in Springfield.

Republic 66, Clever 43
Republic spread the ball around in a 66–43 win at Clever Tuesday, getting scoring from eight different players to avoid an upset against the Blue Jays. Republic led by just 10 points at halftime, 32–33, but pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring Clever 25–7 to put the game out of reach.
Coach Tim Brown said his team’s ability to rely on several scorers will be a big part of its success.
“It’s definitely important with our basketball team to be able to have other guys that can jump up and make a shot,” said Brown. “I think obviously coming into this season, Broc [Smith]’s going to get a lot of attention with the season he had last year. He’s a Drury signee and there’s gonna be opportunities where (other) guys are going to have a chance to shoot some ‘horse shots,’ I like to call them––wide open. I thought we did a good job of moving the basketball tonight and it was nice to see the ball go through the goal.”
Trent Rackley got the Tigers started with two early three-pointers, and the rest of the team shot well most of the night. Six different players had scored within the first 10 minutes of the game, and four players scored in double figures.

Scoring
Trent Rackley 14, Tucker Thomas 13, Race Looney 11, Broc Smith 11, Drew McMillin 8, Jaden Duvall 4, Jacob Coday 3, Cole Buxton 2

Tulsa Memorial 61, Republic 50
Republic put a late scare into defending Class 5 Oklahoma state champ Tulsa Memorial, but in the end, the Chargers were too much for the Tigers in a 61–50 loss at the Ozark Mountain Shootout.
The Chargers traveled to Springfield with a roster loaded with Division 1 talent, including twins Keylan Boone (6’7”) and Kalib Boone (6’9”), who have committed to Oklahoma State University. Brown’s game plan was to slow them down and make them work for their points on the offensive end.
“That’s a team that really wants to get out and run up and down the floor and we didn’t want to allow that, and I thought we did a pretty good job early,” Brown said. “Some mistakes we’ve been making in other games in trying to make some hard plays or maybe stray away and shoot a quick shot–against a team like [Memorial], three of those plays are an automatic six or more points.”
Memorial built a double-digit lead in the first half, but couldn’t put the Tigers away––largely because of the play of sophomore Drew McMillin, who scored a team-high 20 points for the Tigers. In the fourth quarter, Broc Smith started heating up, as well. He scored 10 of his 17 points in the fourth, and Trent Rackley added a couple of three-pointers to shoot Republic back into the game. The Tigers cut the deficit to seven points down the stretch, but couldn’t get any closer.
“I was proud of our kids,” Brown said. “I thought we competed and battled the whole night. We kept saying in timeouts in the second half, just keep doing the things that we’re preaching in the game plan and give yourself a chance at the end. And I thought our kids did that. To get it under 10 with under a minute left, after being down 14–15 the whole second half, I thought it showed a lot of character.”
Republic ended the week at 2–2.

Scoring
Drew McMillin 20, Broc Smith 17, Trent Rackley 6, Race Looney 3, Tucker Thomas 2, Jaden Duvall 2