At times in the first half of Republic’s season opener against Jefferson City Helias, guard Ahlante Askew seemed to be keeping the Tigers in the game almost single-handedly. In the second half, his teammates got in on the act, and Republic sailed to a 60-42 win.
View the full game replay here.
The Tigers struggled to find a groove offensively in the first half, and trailed 12-11 at the end of the first quarter. Seven of those first-quarter points were from Askew. In the second quarter, Helias outscored Republic 17-15 to nab a three-point lead at the halfway mark, 29-26. While last year’s leading scorer, Drew McMillin, struggled to get going, Askew had 14 of the Tigers’ 26 first-half points.
“Ahlante stepped up for us. We’re going to ride our guards everywhere we go this year, and our team knows that,” said coach Tim Brown. “They’re very unselfish guards, ‘Te and Drew both, and ‘Te really stepped up tonight. Drew kind of struggled to start the game and ‘Te really carried us throughout the game –– not only good things from a scoring standpoint, but also … ran the show.”
Brown said the first half was, in some ways, typical of a first game, but he and his assistant coaches challenged the Tigers at halftime to play more typical Republic basketball.
“We were very unorganized in the first half. Something we can always count on (about) our guys: they’re going to be in the right spot and they’re going to play hard, and I felt like we struggled to both of those in the first half. Our guys really responded at halftime,” Brown said.
It took Drew McMillin less than 30 seconds to snap back into midseason form when the third quarter began. He made a three-pointer on the Tigers’ first possession, and when a foul on Helias away from the ball gave Republic the ball again, McMillin swished another three five seconds later. McMillin’s hot start lit a fire under the Tigers, who outscored Helias 19-8 in the third quarter to grab a 45-37 lead. A 15-5 fourth quarter put the game away.
Helias had only seven players on its varsity roster, partly because its football team is still alive in the state playoffs. Compounding the Crusaders’ roster troubles, they got into early foul trouble. By the end of the third quarter, one player had fouled out and two others had four fouls. By the time the game ended, Helias was down to five eligible players – one of them with four personal fouls and one of them with three.
Republic outscored Helias 34-13 in the second half. The Tigers’ guard tandem finished with a combined 46 points – 26 for Askew and 20 for McMillin.
Before the game, Republic recognized Drew McMillin for surpassing the 1,000-point milestone. He scored his 1,000th point against Ozark late in the season last year.
The Tigers play Glendale a week from Wednesday in their first game of the Republic Invitational Tournament.
Scoring
Republic: Askew 26, Drew McMillin 20, Oliver Welch 8, Avery Moody 4, Devon McMillin 2
Helias: Malcolm Davis 18, Desmond White 10, Jacob Rembecki 10, Noah Voss 3, Joe Rembecki 1
