Drew McMillin and Joe Rexroat combined for 39 points and Republic’s defense forced Willard into a poor shooting performance for most of the night in a 60-49 Republic win Tuesday.
The two teams were even for the first quarter, before Republic started pulling away. Republic led 12-10 at the end of the first quarter, but outscored Willard 14-5 to open the second, extending its lead to 26-15. The lead was 14 points by halftime, 31-17.
Republic took control at the start of the second half, outscoring Willard 11-2 to open the third quarter. By that point, the lead was 42-19. That’s as big a lead as Republic would hold all night.
From that point on, Willard slowly chipped away, cutting the margin to 17 points (49-32) by the end of the third quarter. in the fourth quarter, the lead briefly got into single digits, but the comeback was too little, too late.
Joe Rexroat did most of his offensive damage inside, scoring most of his 16 points in the paint and playing a big factor on the boards. Drew McMillin made five three-pointers on his way to a 23-point night.
The win improves Republic’s record to 17-5. They’re unbeaten in the COC and have won 15 straight conference games dating back to the beginning of last season. Joplin falls to 10-10.
Republic will face a big road test Friday at Joplin.
Republic scoring: Drew McMillin 23, Joe Rexroat 16, Ahlante Askew 7, Will Berry 6, Race Looney 4, Nate Woolford 4
