Carthage led Republic 7-2 early in the game, and that’s about all that went right all night for the Tigers in blue. Republic went on a 21-4 run to end the first quarter, extended the lead to 50-17 at halftime, and breezed to an 81-41 win to open COC play at home Tuesday.
The offensive outburst added up to two games worth of points for Republic, literally. They had totaled 79 points in their previous two wins over Parkview and Marshfield. Coach Trevyor Fisher says the Tigers did a several things better on the offensive end tonight.
“We had great ball movement. We shared the ball as a team, and played inside-out,” he says. “We got some offensive rebounds to start the game, and we got our big guys some easy buckets, and that created some openings for our guys out on the perimeter to come in and hit some perimeter shots.”
Five players scored in double figures for Republic, led by Marcus Miller with 13. Cody Geiger had 12, Canyon Smith and Jake Fletcher scored 11 each, and Ty Abney added 10.
“Hopefully that lifts the weight off some of our shoulders as far as an offensive standpoint goes,” says Fisher. “But we always talk about it — what are you going to do when those shots don’t fall? As long as we keep playing on the defensive end, we’ll still have a chance to win every game that we’re in.”
Republic improves to 12-1 overall, 1-0 in conference play. The Tigers host Marshfield Friday night.
