Tigers basketball earn COC West title with two wins

Republic closed the regular season with two wins, avenging an earlier loss at Willard and then beating Parkview to claim the Central Ozark Conference West title outright.
 
On Tuesday, the Tigers held Willard to 33 points in a 47-33 road win, 24 fewer than Willard scored in a Blue & Gold Tournament semifinal victory two months earlier.
 
Trenten Coleman led Republic with 14 points, going 5-for-5 from the field. Ten of those points came in the fourth quarter as the Tigers stretched a seven-point lead to 47-30. Brody Blades added 12 and Keiran Govan scored 10.
 
"I was really proud of the way our guys came in on the road tonight and competed," coach Tim Brown said. "It was as good of a defensive effort as we've had all year. We did a tremendous job with our rotations and switches, and we finished possessions by rebounding and coming up with loose balls. I thought we were completely connected as a group in every aspect of the game tonight."
 
Republic shot 44% from the field Willard shot 32% overall and went 4-of-22 from three-point range.
 
Friday, Republic turned its regular-season finale into a runaway, beating Parkview 71-46 to secure the COC West championship for the second straight year. The Tigers scored 27 points in the first quarter to take a 27-11 lead and never allowed Parkview back into the game. 
 
Parkview outscored Republic 11-10 in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 37-22 at halftime, but Lundberg scored eight points in the third as Republic extended the lead to 54-37. The Tigers held Parkview to nine fourth-quarter points.
 
Uhl led Republic with 18 points. Lundberg added 13 and Coleman had 12.
 
"I'm so proud of our basketball team for winning the COC West again," Brown said. "It was a goal we set coming into the season, and to see it become a reality says a lot about this group.
 
"Every team goes through a different journey each year, and it's been fun to watch this group find ways to win and accomplish what they set out to do," he said. "We've had a lot of guys step into new and different roles, and that's part of what makes a season special."
 
Republic finished the regular season 18-8, winning five of its last six games.