Midway through the first quarter, Republic still hadn’t scored a basket and trailed Springfield Central 4-0. That’s when Brady McGill took over. McGill slashed through the defense, got to the bucket, and scored seven straight points. From there, the Tigers took control and fought off a late run by the Bulldogs for a 43-35 win at The Pit in Springfield.
“He sparked us. His mentality is aggressive: ‘Go score the ball. You pressure me, I’m going to go by you and make something happen, whether it’s good or bad,'” says coach Trevyor Fisher.
McGill ended up with 13 points, 11 in the first half, before foul trouble put him on the bench. When Republic wasn’t scoring, their defense kept them in control through the first three quarters.
“Our defense slowed them down, got them passive,” says Fisher. “Offensively, we did a decent job of executing the first three quarters. We missed some shots we normally make, but…the first half, we did a good job of attacking the basket.”
The Tigers got balanced scoring, with three players in double figures. In addition to McGill’s 13 points, Brock Yocum scored 11 and Tim Brazeal had 10.
“We’ve got to have production not only from our guards, but our big guys. We even had some a couple sophomores come in there and play some big minutes in the first half, and did a good job,” says Fisher.
One of those sophomores was Cameron Doke, who scored four first-half points. Ty Stevens added three points. Tristan Ollar scored two.
The Tigers are 9-10. They return to the court at Webb City for their first conference road game Friday. Republic Tiger Sports will broadcast the game live.