Clever came out determined to challenge heavily favored Republic, and the Blue Jays did it – for about five minutes. But when Devon McMillin made a free throw with 2:50 remaining in the first quarter to tie the game 7-7, it was the first of 22 consecutive points by the Tigers, who ran away from the Blue Jays for an 86-37 victory at home Tuesday. It was the second game in a row that Republic led by 25+ points at halftime.
Four different players scored in double figures for Republic, including freshman Brenley Hagewood, who scored a career-high 19 points to take scoring honors for the Tigers.
Every player who got in the game for the Tigers scored. That included career-high scoring performances by Khamari Edwards (10), James Rexroat (6), Gunner Ellison (5), and Landon O’Dell (3), who scored his first career varsity points on a fourth-quarter three pointer.
“I thought our effort was really good tonight,” said coach Tim Brown. “It kind of took us a minute to get going there. I felt like, once again, our offensive urgency (wasn’t there). There was a lot of standing. Something we have to get used to is playing with a true post player, and I think we’ve just started the game kind of slow.
“Once we got that urgency offensively, I really felt like the ball had energy. We were able to throw it up the floor and get into things quick. That’s the way we’ve got to play to have success.”
Askew didn’t lead the Tigers in scoring, but he did lead them in style points. He had three dunks – one was a half-dunk in the first half on a fantastic fast-break alley-oop pass from Gavyn Beckner (watch here). Askew’s second dunk was a two-hander off a missed fast-break layup by Hagewood (watch here). And the third was an authoritative one-hand throwdown after a Clever turnover on the other end of the court and an outlet pass from Khamari Edwards (watch here).
Republic led 17-7 at the end of the first quarter and 45-18 at halftime. The lead was 40 points by the end of the third quarter, 68-28.
Scoring
Brenley Hagewood 19, Ahlante Askew 15, Devon McMillin 14, Khamari Edwards 10, Jordan Douglas 8, James Rexroat 6,Gavyn Beckner 6, Gunner Ellison 5, Landon O’Dell 3
