Springfield Central picked up where it left off after a championship in the Blue & Gold Tournament Tuesday, blowing out Republic 78-47 at The Pit. The Bulldogs zipped all over the court in the first quarter, made most of their shots, and built a 29-15 lead during the first eight minutes. Central’s lead was 17 points before Rylee Tan made a buzzer-beating three-pointers to end the quarter.
The second quarter wasn’t much better for the Tigers. Central outscored Republic 15-9 to take a 44-24 lead into halftime.
Coach Tim Brown said his players seemed intimidated and Central took the Tigers out of their gameplan at the start.
“They’re really good, and I didn’t think we did very many Republic things early,” Brown said. “I thought we fell into the trap that they’ve made so many teams do, and sped us up and made us play scared, and awestruck. I felt like we were awestruck for the first half.”
Central Guard Keion Epps had 17 points at halftime, including three three-pointers. The Bulldogs made seven threes in the first half and 13 for the game.
Republic played better after halftime, but a brief run early in the third quarter went by the wayside after a couple of bad possessions.
“We talked about coming back in the second half and getting [the lead] to 10. We had it to 15… We had a chance to get a defensive rebound down there… I think we gave up three offensive rebounds. It went from 15 to 22 really fast going into the fourth. You just can’t have that happen.”
One bright spot for Republic was James Rexroat, who used his strength and quickness inside to score 17 points. Brenley Hagewood, held scoreless in the first half, scored 12 points after the break.
The win puts Central’s record at 10-1 and gives them an even better case for the district’s #1 seed later this season. They have already beaten Nixa and Glendale, and they will face Kickapoo later this month.
Republic’s record falls to 8-5 with the loss.
Score by Quarters
Central 29 15 19 15 – 78
Republic 15 9 14 9 – 47
Individual Scoring
James Rexroat 17, Brenley Hagewood 12, Aslan Ebisch 6, Rylee Tan 5, Jordan Douglas 3, Owen Fry 2, CJ Uhl 2