After three wins in three days over the weekend, it took the Tigers a while to get revved up Tuesday night against Branson. But when they did, they had plenty of horsepower to pull away from the Pirates in a 70-54 victory. Drew McMillin caught fire in the second half and finished with 31 points to lead Republic to another Central Ozark Conference victory in front of its home crowd.
In the first half, Branson matched Republic bucket for bucket, playing to a 10-10 tie after one period, and trailing by only four points at halftime, 29-25. Coach Tim Brown said he worried the Tigers might experience a slow start after their tournament championship in Bolivar.
“I thought we came out a little flat. That was something our staff was a little bit worried about after the week we had last week. four games in a week … in some high-level contests. You always look at the teams that win on Saturday and how they play on Tuesday. And sometimes that flat mentality is what you get,” Brown said. “And it felt like we were a little bit flat, a little bit on our heels.”
Brown takes part of the responsibility for failing to recognize that early as Branson found the holes in Republic’s defense.
“I should have done a better job making adjustments in the first half defensively like we did in the second half,” he said. “We did a better job of denying the ball to both their . But we challenged at halftime, and I thought we really responded.”
Ahlante Askew and Carson Neff contributed defensively in the second half to the improvement for Republic. And after Branson cut the lead to one points at 33-32, early in the third quarter, the Tigers went on a scoring tear, reeling off nine straight points. Joe Rexroat completed a conventional three-point play, then McMillin ignited the student section with a step-back three-pointer from the top of the key. Rexroat followed that up with a bomb of his own, and the lead was suddenly 42-32. McMillin made two more threes before the quarter ended, and Republic led 48-39 going into the fourth quarter.
McMillin scored 11 more points in the fourth quarter and the rest of the Tigers helped close out the win by out-scoring Branson 22-15 over the final eight minutes.
Rexroat (14 points) and Looney (13) joined McMillin in scoring in double figures.
Republic improves to 15-5 heading into another conference game with Carthage at home Friday.
Republic scoring: Drew McMillin 31, Joe Rexroat 14, Race Looney 13, Ahlante Askew 4, Will Berry 4, Nate Woolford 4
