Four days after Republic delivered a message with a win over powerhouse Nixa, Willard came to Republic to deliver a message of its own: you can’t take a night off in the Central Ozark Conference.
It took nearly the entire game, but Republic got that message just in time, stringing together three straight defensive stops to break a tie and pull away for a 56-50 victory at home on Senior Night.
Check out our senior night tribute page, sponsored by Artistic Photography.
With the game tied 45-45, Ty Stevens made the key play of the night after a Willard turnover, driving to the hoop, making his shot, and drawing the foul — then making his free throw to complete a three-point play. After two more Willard turnovers, the lead had grown to 50-45, and from there, Republic made enough free throws down the stretch to hold on.
Coach Trevyor Fisher couldn’t find much positive to take away from the performance after the game.
“If we play like we’re capable of, and play with intensity and have that mental focus and we lose, I’m all right with it,” Fisher says. “But the same thing goes if you go the other way with it, when you don’t have that stuff and you win, you can’t take much away from it.
“I don’t know if it was, after a big win on Friday, the O-Zone rankings, so many people patting you on the back telling you what a great job you did, we were fortunate to get out of there with a win.”
Mitch Coiner led the Tigers with 18 points. Treydon Rackley had 17. Tristan Aller added 12. Ty Stevens scored nine. Those were the only four Republic players to score.
Republic improved to 19-4 overall, 5-0 in the COC. Willard falls to 7-16, 0-5.
Republic has three regular season games remaining. The Tigers travel to Ozark for a COC showdown Friday. They have a makeup game with Waynesville and a final conference game against Branson, as well.
