Treydon Rackley scored 16 points and the Tiger defense turned in another strong performance as Republic cruised past Springfield Central 61-50 Tuesday night. The Tigers led by as many as 24 points before Trevyor Fisher pulled his starters and the Bulldogs closed the gap in the final minutes.
Republic jumped on top 10-4 after the first quarter and led 26-14 at the half. They dominated the boards, pulling down 44 reboiunds compared to 24 for Central. Republic shot 47% from the field, and held Central to 36%.
If there was a negative to the Tigers’ performance, it was their inability to take care of the ball at times against Central’s fast-paced style. The Tigers committed 14 turnovers, but Central only turned those miscues into 11 points. Republic forced 16 turnovers and scored 22 points.
In addition to Rackley’s 16 points, the Tigers got ten each from Cameron Doke and Tristan Ollar. Mitch Coiner had eight. Brock Smith scored seven. Ty Stevens and Devon Ward scored four each, and Tyler Phillips added two.
Republic improves to 15-4. They resume conference play on Friday with a home game against Webb City.
