Sophomore Nick Yocum’s hot shooting sparked a come-from-behind win, as the Republic Tigers won the district championship over Reeds Spring 43-33. Yocum had 15 points in the 2nd half to help the Tigers overcome an 11-point deficit and grab a 29-28 lead at the end of the 3rd period. Republic outscored Reeds Spring 14-5 in the final quarter to win going away.
The Tigers were ice cold from the floor in the first half. They trailed 9-7 at the end of the first quarter, and 20-11 at halftime. But Coach Gary Stanfield told the team not to get down after scoring only 11 points in the first 16 minutes.
“The only thing I said to them of any significance was, ‘We held them to 20 points in the first half. Great job.’ And that we were getting shots, and we thought they’d fall in the second half,” Stanfield said.
“I was only disappointed with their look. We looked like things weren’t going well, and that’s not the look we want to portray on the floor when the game’s half over.”
In the 3rd quarter, the shots fell for Yocum. He hit three short jump shots, then a 3-pointer. And he capped his 3rd quarter performance with a driving, 1-handed floater that banked in off the glass and drew a foul. He hit the free throw to finish the quarter with 12 points.
“(Coach Stanfield) just told us to keep shooting the ball, cause it’s eventually gonna fall,” Yocum said. “And that kept our confidence up. And we did it, and they fell.”
Jonathan Combs had 10 points for the Tigers — including 7 in the 1st half, to help Republic stay in the game. Dylan Fletcher had 7 and Kevin Stander had 6, all in the 2nd half. Grant Hancock added 3 points and Josh Morrow had 2.