Jake Fletcher poked the ball away to disrupt Carthage’s final possession, and a final jumper in the lane by Carthage’s Kyle Reed bounded away as time expired, giving Republic a 69-68 win in a matchup of two of southwest Missouri’s best teams. (See video.) The final defensive stop thwarted a comeback by Carthage, who had trailed 65-58 with just over three minutes left.
Nick Yocum led the way for Republic with 20 points, including four 3-pointers. He had 15 in the first half. Canyon Smith added 10. Marcus Miller and Jake Fletcher scored 8 apiece. Grant Hancock had 7. Payton Looney and Dylan Bekemeier had 6 apiece, and Cody Geiger scored 4 for the Tigers.
Desmond Buerge scored 27 points for Carthage to lead all scorers.
Republic gave up the first seven points of the game, but ripped off eight in a row to take the lead. They trailed again at 9-8, but never lost the lead the rest of the way. It was 18-13 after one quarter, and 38-32 at halftime. The Tigers built an 11-point lead midway through the 3rd quarter before Carthage closed the gap down the stretch. The margin was down to 55-50 by the end of the third quarter.
Carthage gradually closed the gap to one point with about 12 seconds left, and had a final crack at the win. Payton Looney committed a foul, forcing Carthage to take the ball out of bounds with 4 seconds left, setting up the final defensive stop.
Both teams are now 18-4.
The JV team beat Carthage 67-46.
Before the varsity game, Taylor Wells was crowned 2012 Courtwarming Queen.
