Republic fought back from a 12-point 1st-half deficit at Nixa, and took the lead for the first time with under two minutes left in the game. But Nixa’s Austin Ruder had the last shot, and he made it count. Ruder drained a 27-footer as time expired to lift Nixa to a 43-41 win in a COC showdown of state-ranked teams.
“It’s just a great player making a great shot at the most crucial of times,” says Republic coach Trevyor Fisher. “They ran that little set and our guys did a pretty good job of covering the guy in the corner, covering the guy around the basket, and we made him shoot, what, a 26-, 28-footer.
“But I couldn’t be more proud of our guys. They battled their butts off. We could’ve folded but we kept chipping away. we did a good job defensively, just didn’t make quite enough plays down the stretch.”
From the start, it looked like Nixa might run away with it. Republic didn’t even take a shot until three minutes into the game, and the Eagles grabbed a 7-0 lead. But the Tigers found their balance and stayed in the game, closing the gap to 14-10 at the end of one.
In the 2nd quarter, Nixa built the lead to 12 points, its biggest of the game, at 28-16, with about two minutes left in the half. But again Republic closed the gap, and trailed only 28-22 at halftime.
Republic buckled down on defense in the 2nd half. Nixa scored only nine points in the 3rd quarter, and Republic cut the lead to 37-33 as the 4th period started. When Canyon Smith scored on an offensive rebound and outback on the Tigers’ first possession of the 4th, the lead was down to two, at 37-35.
A couple of minutes later, Dylan Bekemeier hit a jumper to tie the game at 39, with 2:51 left. Cody Geiger hit a shot shortly after that, and Republic had its first lead, with 1:29 to play, 41-39.
The Tigers got a stop on defense, and had a chance to close out the game with a basket. But Nixa forced a turnover with 12.6 seconds left, setting up Ruder’s heroics.
Ruder finished with 17 points to lead Nixa. His game-winner was the only field goal he had after the field goal.
Republic was led by Jake Fletcher with 14 points. Marcus Miller scored seven. Dylan Bekemeier, Canyon Smith and Cody Geiger scored six apiece.
