With about 5:30 left in the second quarter, Springfield Catholic trailed Republic by one point, 18-17. Republic coach Tim Brown called a time out to “get his point across” about the team’s play to that point.
“A lot of the points (the Irish) were getting early in the game, they were getting off of us not doing the little things — not boxing out, letting them get second-chance points,” said Brenley Hagewood. “Mainly in that huddle we were just talking about … getting the ball into our hands instead of letting them get two, three, four extra chances.”
“They scored on a lot of loose balls, and I feel like Coach Brown got his point across about fixing that,” said Gunner Ellison.
Brown’s point made an impression on the Tigers. After that time out, Republic outscored Catholic by 24 points, finishing with a 60-35 win on the road Friday. The Tigers held Catholic to 18 points over the final 21 minutes of the game.
Brenley Hagewood had a big game for the Tigers, finishing with 19 points. He scored ten of those points in the second quarter and had three three-pointers in the game.
Two other players finished in double figures. Gunner Ellison and Ahlante Askew had ten points apiece.
The loss ended a five-game winning streak for the Irish. Republic won its 11th consecutive game. The Tigers will open Central Ozark Conference play next Tuesday at Carl Junction.
Score by Quarters
Catholic 10 11 6 8 – 35
Republic 15 15 12 18 – 60
Individual Scoring
Brenley Hagewood 19, Ahlante Askew 10, Gunner Ellison 10, Isaiah Nabors 9, James Rexroat 5, Jordan Douglas 4, Aslan Ebisch 3