Sophomore Brody Blades and senior Brenley Hagewood combined for 41 points to lead Republic to its second Blue & Gold Tournament title in three years with a 64-49 win over Bolivar Monday night. Blades made six three-pointers and Hagewood had two, punctuating the Tigers’ championship with two prodigious two-handed dunks that ignited a big Republic crowd.
“Anytime you can win one of these things in southwest Missouri with the level of programs and coaches and players that are in this tournament, they’re hard to win,” said Republic coach Tim Brown. “We got our second in three years, and I’m just happy for our guys.”
The game started evenly matched, with each team scoring 12 points in the first quarter, but the Tigers reeled off 13 consecutive points to take a 23-12 lead early in the second quarter. A run by Bolivar got them within five at halftime, 25-20.
The Liberators cut the lead to three points early in the third quarter, 27-24, but that’s as close as they’d get. From that point on, the Tigers outscored Bolivar 37-25.
“We talked about winning the first four minutes, and we made enough plays defensively and had guys make some big, timely shots,” Brown said.
Both teams fought through foul trouble in a tightly called game. Republic adjusted by switching to a zone defense in the second half.
“We went zone to try to preserve some fouls and kind of slow their rhythm down,” Brown said. “I thought that was helpful for us to kind of throw them out of rhythm and get their shots in different spots a little higher on the floor and kept us from being in foul trouble.”
Republic made six free throws in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Hagewood scored 10 of his 18 points down the stretch. He finished his Blue & Gold career, unofficially, with 240 points, eighth all-time. Only Howard Arndt, with 252 points, has scored more Blue & Gold points for Republic, according to the tournament’s official scoring list.
“We know we have one of the best players in southwest Missouri, and I’m happy for the rest of our team because they all starred in their roles this week and had big moments as well,” Brown said.
Republic improves to 10-0 for the first time since 2020. They return to action Friday at home against Waynesville as part of a boys/girls supernight of basketball.
