Going into Republic’s showdown with undefeated Nixa Tuesday, the Tigers’ defensive focus was on taking away the Eagles’ potent three-point attack. They mostly did it — but the Eagles overcame Republic and won the game anyway, a single point at a time.
Nixa made only six three-pointers, but the Eagles outscored Republic 14-0 at the free throw line to hold off the Tigers for a 62-58 win and first place in the Central Ozark Conference. Kael Combs scored 28 points, slightly above his season average, to lead the Eagles.
Coach Tim Brown said he knew Combs would get his points, but Republic’s goal was to make everything else difficult for him.
“Kael Combs is a really good player. We tried to make the game hard on him, and make him as inefficient as we possibly could,” Brown said. “We tried to take his assists away, and I thought our guys did a good job of that tonight. We forced him into some shots, and as a whole, we did what we needed to do defensively.”
Republic got a breakout game from Aslan Ebisch, who stepped up with Gunner Ellison to get the Tigers back into the game after a fast start by Nixa. The Eagles built a 14-9 lead after the first quarter and led by ten points early in the second. But Ebisch and Ellison jumpstarted the Republic offense in the second quarter, helping the Tigers even the score at halftime, 30-30.
Ellison scored eight points in the second quarter, Ebisch scored five, and Brenley Hagewood and Ahlante Askew each fired in treys to get Republic back in the game.
“That’s the Aslan we saw all summer. That’s what we expected out of him. He’s played well of late,” Brown said. “I’m really happy for him tonight because there’s not a kid that’s put in any more time. He hasn’t had the success probably from a production standpoint of making shots that we expect from him, and that he expects from himself, but we’ve said all along that he’s kind of the X-factor that can help us go from good to really good, if he has that production.”
Ellison’s eight-point second quarter was also a key for the Tigers as they worked out of that early hole.
“Gunner Ellison stepped up tonight, too, especially in the first half. He guards and does all the little things, but he made some baskets in the first half to help us keep that thing tied.”
Nixa’s first big break of the second half came early in the third quarter, when Isaiah Nabors drew a foul while guarding Combs. Combs made his shot, and as he and Combs jostled after the whistle, Nabors got called for a technical. Combs made all three free throws and Nixa had a five-point lead.
The Tigers immediately responded. Ebisch knocked down a three-pointer from the corner, Republic got a defensive stop, and Jordan Douglas dropped in a trey to give the Tigers a 42-41 lead. After both teams failed to score on several possessions, Hagewood made a three-pointer from the corner and the Tigers had their biggest lead of the night, 45-41, with 1:50 remaining in the third quarter.
But just when Republic seemed to have the advantage, Nixa answered. The Eagles reeled off six straight points to regain the lead, and then, with Republic leading 50-49 early in the fourth quarter, went on a 9-2 run to take control. Ebisch and Jordan Douglas each made three-pointers in the final minutes to keep the outcome in doubt, but Nixa sealed the win by making enough of its free throws.
Nixa’s Devon Kemp made six of eight free throws in the fourth quarter to secure the win for the Eagles, who shot more than 20 free throws on the night. Republic was 0-for-2 from the line.
“I thought our kids did a good job of battling through some adversity tonight,” Brown said. “It’s never easy to win here, and we had a hard time keeping them off the foul line, and we’ve got to be better at that.”
Nixa improves to 21-0 and takes the inside track to a COC title with a 4-0 record. Republic falls to 19-2 (3-1). The loss also ends Republic’s 18-game winning streak.
Score by Quarters
Republic 9 21 15 13 – 58
Nixa 14 16 16 16 – 62
Individual Scoring
Aslan Ebisch 18, Brenley Hagewood 15, Gunner Ellison 8, Ahlante Askew 7, Jordan Douglas 6, Khamari Edwards 4