Republic used two scoring spurts — one at the end of the 2nd quarter and one at the end of the 3rd quarter — to beat West Plains 72-59 in the quarterfinals of the Blue & Gold Tournament. The Zizzers used hot shooting to stay in the game against Republic most of the night, but two key stretches made the difference for the Tigers.
West Plains trailed by only one point in the final two minutes of the 1st half, but the Tigers reeled off seven straight to lead 34-26 at the break. A Dylan Bekemeier steal and layup helped the Tigers finish the half strong.
In the 3rd quarter, West Plains got as close as one point at 38-37, but the Tigers scored six in a row to build another cushion. They added to the lead at the end of the quarter, scoring the final seven before the buzzer. That run included five points in the final eight seconds, when Dylan Bekemeier hit a jumper in the lane, then Brock Yocum stole West Plains’ in-bounds pass and nailed a three-pointer as time expired. In the 4th quarter, the lead got as big as 16 points.
Coach Trevyor Fisher says his team’s streaky offense did its job, but the defense will need to improve as the Tigers move forward in the tournament.
“I’ve never really been worried about our offense. We’ve got weapons to score a bunch of points in a hurry,” says Fisher. “Tonight our deal was just on the defensive end. No matter if we were man, zone, it just wasn’t a good effort. (We) allowed dribble penetration, open shots, offensive rebounds. For us to continue and move on in the tournament, we’ll have to have a better effort on that end.”
Canyon Smith paced the Tigers with 20 points, including four three-pointers. Dylan Bekemeier had 18 and Chase Hoffmann added 13 for Republic. Cody Geiger, who was in foul trouble early and was the primary focus of the Zizzers defense, was held to six points.
“Cody didn’t have one of his better games, and it was nice to have Chase pick up that production down low,” says Fisher. “There’s going to be night when guys aren’t on, they’re in foul trouble, they’re hurt, and the next guy up has to step up and contribute. He did a good job of rebounding and getting some points down there.”
West Plains’ Justin Davis had 23 points to lead all scorers. He had four of the Zizzers’ six three pointers for the game.
“They’re a talented offensive team. When they’re playing well, they build on that and kind of get streaky. They’ve got three, four guys who can step out and shoot it.”
The Tigers move on to play Hillcrest in the semifinals at 8:30 Saturday night at JQH Arena. It’s a rematch of the championship game of the Republic Invitational, which Republic won handily. The Hornets’ Juwan Johnson told the Springfield News-Leader “We want Republic again for sure” before the Blue & Gold Tournament started. Hillcrest set up the rematch with a 50-47 win over Hartville.