Smith’s 28 Leads Repmo Past Smith-Cotton

Republic overcame a frigid shooting start to beat Sedalia Smith-Cotton 72-53 at home Tuesday. Broc Smith finished with 28 points to lead Republic, and three other players also scored in double figures.

Republic missed its first five shots from the field. It was two minutes into the game before Race Looney scored Republic’s first field goal of the night. Back-to-back three-pointers by Drew McMillin and Trent Rackley quickly followed, but Republic still only led 12-11 after one quarter.

“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 opportunities 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 end, that we’re probably not going to be rewarded and make shots on the other end.”

Republic did clean up the defense in the second quarter, and it translated into a bigger lead at halftime. The Tigers outscored Smith-Cotton 22-13 in the second quarter to build a ten-point lead at the half.

Sedalia stayed in the game courtesy of a spate of Republic turnovers late in the third quarter, after the lead had stretched to 15. Smith-Cotton got it down to 50-42 at one point, but Republic went on an 11-0 run to the put the game away early in the fourth.

Broc Smith put together one of the quietest 28-point nights in recent memory. He started slowly, but methodically added to his total as Republic built its lead. Smith scored five points in the first quarter, ten more in the second quarter, seven in the third, and six in the fourth, before he went to the bench with the rest of the starters.

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 McMillin 14, Trent Rackley 11, Claye White 2, Nate Woolford 2, Jaden Duvall 1

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