Republic withstood a fourth-quarter barrage of 3-pointers to hand Branson its first loss of the season Tuesday, escaping with a 65-60 road victory.
See scoring history and unofficial stat recap.
The Tigers built a double-digit halftime lead with a stifling defensive effort but had to weather a late storm to secure their third consecutive win. Branson, which entered the game 4-0, made six three-pointers in the final period to cut a comfortable Republic lead to three points midway through the quarter.
“We knew coming into this environment… we said some good things are going to happen and some bad things are going to happen,” said coach Tim Brown. “Through the first three quarters, no bad things had happened yet… (but) when you live and die by the three-point line, and the way we guarded it… we were able to build a cushion.”
That cushion proved necessary when the Pirates’ offense caught fire late. Trailing 55-45, Branson used a 7-0 run to pull within 55-52. Tred Houston led the charge, scoring 12 of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Republic stabilized the game at the free-throw line. Brody Blades, Keiran Govan, and Jin Villasica all converted free throws in the final minutes to keep the Pirates at bay.
“They made six threes in the fourth quarter. They had some extra possessions because we didn’t do a great job of handling it, but we stepped up and made our free throws down the stretch,” Brown said. “It’s a group that’s not been in that situation before… I’m confident we’ll be better in those areas the next time we play.”
The Tigers controlled the first half, outscoring Branson 17-8 in the second quarter to take a 32-20 lead at the break. A 7-0 run late in the half, highlighted by 3-pointers from Blades and Villasica, helped Republic separate.
Villasica finished with a career-high 14 points, including three 3-pointers, capitalizing on the defensive attention paid to his teammates.
“They guarded Brody really hard… and they did a good job of trying to double on Keiran,” Brown said. “The ball ended up in Jin’s hands a lot of times with a good shot and he jumped up and made it. That’s a good shot in the arm for our basketball team and our offense.”
Blades led Republic with 17 points, going 6-for-7 from the line. Govan added 14 points, and Trenten Coleman scored 10.
Jett James joined Houston in double figures for Branson with 13 points.
“We’re going to celebrate this because we came on the road in a hostile environment and we got a big win on the road,” Brown said.
Republic improves to 3-1 overall.
Score by quarters
Branson 12 8 18 22 – 60
Republic 15 17 16 17 – 65
Individual scoring
Blades 17, Govan 14, Villasica 14, Coleman 10, Uhl 4, Lundberg 2, Howard 2, Connell 2
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