Springfield Catholic controlled the boards and dissected the Republic defense for easy layups, especially in the second half of a 61-54 win over the Tigers in Republic. The Irish out-rebounded Republic 18-9, including several offensive rebounds that resulted in second-chance points.
“We had some guys get whipped tonight,” said coach Tim Brown. “We’ve prided our program on being blue collar and doing the little things and defending and rebounding. And we didn’t see that tonight consistently.”
Despite Catholic’s strong rebounding advantage, Republic managed to take a lead into halftime, 28-25, thanks partly to six first-half turnovers by the Irish.
Catholic hit a three-pointer on its first possession of the second half to immediately tie the game in the third quarter. Three-pointers by Joe Rexroat and Ahlante Askew helped Republic take a 36-32 lead, but that would be the high-water mark of the night for the Tigers. Catholic closed out the third quarter on a 15-4 run to take a 49-43 lead into the fourth quarter. A key play came at the end of the quarter when Republic was holding the ball for a final shot. The Tigers turned the ball over and Catholic hit a three at the buzzer to grab a six-point lead.
Catholic stretched the lead to as many as nine points before Republic made one more charge. The Tigers drew two charging fouls on consecutive Irish possessions. Drew McMillin hit a three-pointer, Race Looney scored on a jumper, and Drew McMillin followed that up with another bucket to cut the lead to 56-54. But Republic never got any closer, and the Tigers gave up an offensive rebound on a missed Irish free throw down the stretch when they could have had a chance to tie.
In addition to the defensive trouble, Brown said the Tigers didn’t run their offense as well as they have in recent weeks.
“We didn’t always take the best of shots and there were some spurts where we needed to. That’s a toughness thing to trust your system and to get a great shot every time down,” he said. “Last time we lost, we got better. Hopefully we’ll learn from this and get better.”
The loss ends a six-game winning streak for the Tigers, who hadn’t lost since the semifinals of the Blue & Gold Tournament against Kickapoo. Republic is 11-5 heading into a three-game weekend at the Bolivar tournament, starting Thursday night.
Republic scoring: Drew McMillin 21, Joe Rexroat 13, Race Looney 12, Nate Woolford 5, Ahlante Askew 3
