Republic’s defense held Ozark to just seven points in the first ten minutes of play, on the way to a 59-50 win in the third-place game of the Gold Division at the Blue & Gold Tournament Monday. Ozark started with a 3-0 lead, then scored just one more bucket for the rest of the first quarter as Republic raced to a 20-13 halftime lead.
Tim Brown praised his players’ defensive effort after the win.
“We just wanted to be solid. They’re a team that has a lot of rhythm and flow to their offense. They do a really good job of screening and curling, getting back cuts, and we wanted to try to eliminate those,” he said. “We wanted to try to push them out on the floor and make them shoot perimeter jump shots.”
After Republic forced Ozark into a bad shot, they closed out possessions on the defensive glass most of the night, especially in the first half.
“Our first-shot defense tonight was awesome, and we did a really good job of rebounding the basketball. When we can do that, we’re pretty good defensively,” Brown said.
Race Looney led three Tigers in double figures with 23 points. Drew McMillin had 15 and Ahlante Askew scored ten. Republic’s guards slashed the Ozark offense with dribble penetration all night, leading to lots of easy layups in the first half, and lots of free throws all night. Republic made 16 free throws total.
“We have good guards and they’re learning to play together, and we’ve got another freshman (Ahlante Askew) who’s learning his role on our team and learning how to adjust, and he got better this tournament too,” Brown said. “On a big floor like that, we were able to spread them out and get them chasing, and they’re a pressure team, and we were able to get in the lane and get to the foul line. That’s just a recipe for success when you’re able to guard like we did, rebound like we did, shoot layups, and and make your free throws.”
Republic led 22-13 after Looney made two free throws to start the third quarter, but six straight points got Ozark back in the game. Ozark got within three points at 23-20, but went on a 12-2 run to push the lead to double digits again, and Ozark would never get any closer than seven points.
Republic improves to 6-4 this season.
Republic scoring: Race Looney 23, Drew McMillin 15, Ahlante Askew 10, Will Berry 4, Tucker Thomas 4, Carson Neff 2, Joe Rexroat 1
