The Republic Tigers used grinding defense and a couple of key buckets down the stretch to beat Parkview 34-27 for the Gold Division championship of the Blue & Gold Tournament.
Cody Geiger led the Tigers with 12 points, but it was Canyon Smith’s 3-pointer in the final minute that broke a 27-27 tie and spurred the Tigers to victory.
“Coach told me to stay to the corner, and everybody keep calm,” says Smith. “I just got the ball and it went in.”
Smith’s trey from the left corner won back the momentum for Republic, after they had let Parkview take the lead midway through the 3rd quarter. Republic had led 17-15 at halftime, but Parkview scored the first six points of the half to lead 21-17.
Republic reeled off six points in a row to regain the lead, and neither team led by more than two points the rest of the way, until Smith’s 3-pointer sparked the Tigers.
Coach Trevyor Fisher says he wasn’t surprised with the slow pace of the game, given the way Parkview plays defense.
“They just make you throw it around the perimeter a little bit. They pack it in,” says Fisher. “For whatever reason, our guards weren’t looking to penetrate early. Then when we put Ty in there, he did a good job of attacking and opened up some things.”
Fisher says he was confident the Tigers would respond to Parkview’s style.
“We knew they were going to play that style and we were content with that,” Fisher says. “It just came down — and we knew it would — just making plays down the stretch.
“We never quit. We never put our head down. We don’t panic, for the most part,” he says. “You just have to have some luck involved, getting some rebounds, some loose balls. Things fell in the right place for us.”
