Conway reeled off 10 straight points in the fourth quarter to come from behind and beat Republic 51-47 in the consolation bracket of the Blue & Gold Tournament Monday. The loss knocks Republic out of the tournament and sends Conway to the 5th place game.
Coach Trevyor Fisher says defensive breakdowns played a big role in the final minutes, but that’s not where the game was lost.
“Defensively, we gave up two open looks to their best player. We gave up transition points. Offensively, we didn’t convert when we had opportunities,” he says. “But the game was lost right at the beginning. We didn’t guard at all. We didn’t show any energy and effort.”
For the first 24 minutes, Republic built a series of leads, only to let Conway get back into the game each time. The Tigers went up 24-19 in the second quarter after a 5-0 run, but Conway responded with six consecutive points of its own. Republic jumped ahead 36-30 and looked like they were ready to take control by pounding the ball inside to Tim Brazeal, who finished with a team-high 17 points. In the fourth quarter, though, the inside game stopped being a factor for the Tigers.
“It’s amazing when you throw it in there and you have success, then for whatever reason you get away from it,” says Fisher. “As a coach you try to figure out why that happens. There’s no doubt, that’s where our advantage was and we had success doing it, and for whatever reason we went away from it.”
In addition to Brazeal’s 17, the Tigers got 11 from Brock Yocum, seven apiece from Brady McGill and Tristan Ollar, three from Ty Stevens, and two from Travis Sly.
The Tigers fall to 5-5. They won’t be on the court again until a visit to Lebanon on January 5th.