For a team known for its defense, Republic scored an awful lot of points in its first game of the season. The Tigers poured in 12 three-pointers on the way to a blowout win over West Plains, 76-30 in the first round of the Republic Invitational Tournament. Four different players scored in double figures, with Brenley Hagewood’s 17 points leading the way.
The game belonged to Republic almost from the start. The Tigers outscored West Plains 28-10 in the first quarter. The Zizzers scored just ten points in each quarter of the first half, then managed only ten points total in the second half. Still coach Tim Brown sees room for improvement with his defense.
“Overall for the first nine minutes of the game, then the first five minutes of the second half, I thought we really tried to defend. I thought we were able to reward ourselves during that time with some run-outs, and we were able to make a lot of shots,” he said. So overall, I thought it was a good night for us. For about half the game, I thoiught we really did a good job of being sound defensively and playing Republic defense.”
The Tigers took advantage of spacing in the West Plains zone defense. Republic’s passing game consistently led to open shots, especially early. The Tigers made five three-pointers in the first quarter alone, each by a different player. Ahlante Askew led the team in three-pointers with three.
Hagewood’s 17 points led Republic, but he was one of four players to score in double figures. Askew added 15. Gunner Ellison had 12, and Aslan Ebisch, getting his first varsity start at Republic, scored 11.
Two other players scored their first career varsity points for Republic. Cason Bekemeier scored two points on a fourth-quarter bucket, and Cameron Whitener made a fourth-quarter free throw to get in the scorebook.
Republic advances to the tournament semifinals and will play Springdale, Ark., Friday at 8:30. The Bulldogs scored 25 points in the fourth quarter to come from behind and beat Park Hill South 64-61.
In the other quarterfinals, Bentonville, Ark., dismantled Liberty 73-29. Rolla edged Ozark 66-65. Rolla and Bentonville will play at 7:00 pm
At 4:00 Friday, Ozark will play Liberty. At 5:30, Park Hill South will meet West Plains. We’ll carry all four games live on our secondary YouTube Channel, REPMO TV. You can find all four videos on our Republic Tiger Sports Live page, as well.
Score by Quarters
West Plains 10 10 8 2 – 30
Republic 28 15 23 10 – 76
Individual Scoring
Brenley Hagewood 17, Ahlante Askew 15, Gunner Ellison 12, Aslan Ebisch 11, Jordan Douglas 8, Khamari Edwards 6, James Rexroat 4, Cason Bekemeier 2, Cameron Whitener 1