Republic came out with the hot hand and never let up, on the way to a dominating 78-39 win on the road at Carl Junction. Dylan Bekemeier’s four 1st-half three-pointers helped Republic out of the gates early. Bekemeier, Jake Fletcher and Canyon Smith helped Republic’s backcourt combine for 29 points in the first half. The Tigers led 42-21 at the midway point.
“I think it’s just a matter of hitting shots. They left us open,” says coach Trevyor Fisher. “When we didn’t hit our shots, we seemed to get every offensive rebound and outback.”
Cody Geiger finished with 16 points on the inside to lead the Tigers. Grant Hancock added eight, and had a big night on the boards for Republic, along with Marcus Miller.
By the time the game had ended, eleven different Tigers had scored. Bekemeier had 15 and Fletcher had 13, joining Geiger in double figures.
Fisher says the Tigers’ defense wasn’t as good as it ultimately needs to be, but he was happy with allowing only 39 points to the Bulldogs.
“We knew coming into the game they had their two very good guards, and we got them to take some tough shots, and it led to some easy transition points,” says Fisher.
“There are still some things we’ve got to correct,” he says. “Our ball-screen defense wasn’t quite as good as what we need it to be. But for an offensive-oriented team like they are, that was a pretty good job.”