Republic turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, and Chris Hendrix exploded for 31 points as Willard routed Republic 61-42 at Willard Tuesday. The loss is the second in a row for Republic, who lost to Nixa on a last-second shot last week.
“I really thought with our mature group we were going to be all right coming off a tough loss on Friday,” says coach Trevyor Fisher. “It just shows you, any given night, especially in this conference, if you don’t come ready, be strong, and match the other team’s intensity, you can get beat.”
Both teams opened the game cautiously, and at the end of one quarter, it was only 10-8 Willard.
But midway through the 2nd quarter, Willard’s full-court pressure–and foul trouble–began to take a toll on Republic. With 4:00 left in the half, Republic trailed 17-14, but were playing with starters Jake Fletcher, Grant Hancock and Cody Geiger on the bench. Over the next four minutes, Willard ran its lead to 33-17, and that was the score at halftime.
From there, Republic put together a couple of sustained runs to get the lead back down to 11, but never seriously threatened Willard.
Dylan Bekemeier led Republic with 12 points. Cody Geiger had eight, despite playing limited minutes with foul trouble. Brock Yocum finished with seven. Grant Hancock, who also spent much of the night on the bench with foul trouble, scored six.
Republic falls to 19-4 on the season. Their next game is Friday night at home against Ozark for homecoming.
