Smith’s big night bites Smith-Cotton

Broc Smith scored 28 points to lead four Repub- lic players in double-figure scoring, helping the Tigers cruise past Sedalia Smith- Cotton at home, 72–53.
Republic missed its first five shots from the field, and it took two minutes for Race Looney to put the Tigers on the scoreboard. But coach Tim Brown said he thought his team was playing pretty well despite the cold start.
“I thought offensively we got really good looks in that stretch. I thought we were just missing shots,” said coach Tim Brown. “What we talked about after the first quarter was making sure we
continued to get good shots and have good possessions, but we wanted to try to clean up some things defensively.
“We felt like they were getting it too deep in our gaps off the dribble and too many second-chance op- portunities for them. Even though we didn’t give up a lot of points in that span, we could just tell that it wasn’t as sharp and clean as what it needed to be, and it kind of felt like when we’re not sharp and clean on [the defensive] end, that we’re probably not going to be rewarded and make shots on the other end.”
Republic outscored
Smith-Cotton 22–13 in the second quarter to take a 10-point lead into halftime, and Smith-Cotton never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
Republic also got double- figure scoring from Race Looney, Drew McMillin, and Trent Rackley.
The Tigers improved to 12–3 overall. They head to Chanute, Kan., Thursday for the start of the Ralph Miller Classic.
Scoring Broc Smith 28, Race Looney 14, Drew Mc- Millin 14, Trent Rackley 11, Claye White 2, Nate Woolford 2, Jaden Duvall 1