Slater Howard was scoreless through the first 27 minutes and 44 seconds of Republic’s game against Helias on Friday. He more than made up for it down the stretch. Howard scored 12 points in the final 4:16 — all on three-pointers, the last with nine seconds left to lift Republic past the Crusaders 57-56 in the Bolivar Liberator Tournament semifinals Friday night.
The win was the 300th of coach Tim Brown’s career.
Republic (11-6) trailed 40-24 midway through the third quarter after Helias had built a 37-22 halftime lead on the strength of an 18-0 run in the second quarter.
Brown said the deficit was largely self-inflicted.
“That’s what I’m most proud of with this group was we had a great first quarter,” Brown said. “I thought our defense was great when it was set and we just—we got a little passive in our press offense. And I thought that got us discombobulated and we didn’t handle the ball real well, and then that got our movement and our actions not very good offensively.”
The Tigers answered with a strong second half, including a 16-6 run to close the third quarter, pulling within 46-40. Brody Blades capped the surge with a three-pointer.
“We talked about (at halftime) we’re in this position because of self-inflicted wounds and we made some adjustments,” Brown said. “Our guys did a great job in the third just crawling back into it, getting it back to six and gave us a little life and just kept getting stops.”
Helias stretched its lead back to eight at 48-40 on a Logan Hillman bucket early in the fourth. But Blades hit another three, AJ Uhl scored a bucket, and after a Helias basket, Slater knocked down his first trey to cut the lead to 50-48.
After Helias pushed its lead to six, Howard made back-to-back threes to tie the game 54-54 with 50 seconds remaining.
Alex Wood’s basket gave Helias a 56-54 lead with about 30 seconds remaining, but Howard drained his fourth straight three with nine seconds left to put Republic ahead 57-56.
Helias had one final chance. Hillman, who was 8-for-9 from two-point range on the night, got a look from 15 feet, but his shot spun out as time expired. AJ Uhl secured the rebound and held the ball as the buzzer sounded.
“Whenever we’re able to set our defense, we feel like we’re elite on that end,” Brown said. “And we had guys that stepped up and made big shots and big plays tonight.”
Howard finished with 12 points, all in the fourth quarter. Blades led Republic with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range. Uhl added 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field.
Hillman led all scorers with 28 points on 8-of-9 from two-point range and 4-of-11 from three.
Republic shot 53 percent from the field (19-of-36) and 53 percent from three (10-of-19). Helias shot 42 percent overall (22-of-52) and 31 percent from deep (9-of-29).
After the game, Brown downplayed the personal milestone that came with the win.
“Tonight’s about these guys making plays, and that’s a big win for our program,” Brown said. “But (I’m) just thankful to all of our players that have contributed to that in this program and other programs.”
Brown said Republic has been home for most of his coaching career.
“I’ve been here longer than I’ve been anywhere else so I think that makes it pretty sweet, too,” he said. “And just so many great players and great staffs that have helped our program be good and help Republic basketball be good.”
Republic plays in the tournament championship Saturday at 2:30 against Branson or Bolivar.
| | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | F |
| ——– | — | — | — | — | — |
| Helias | 16 | 21 | 9 | 10 | 56 |
| Republic | 18 | 4 | 18 | 17 | 57 |
**Republic (57):** Blades 14, Howard 12, Uhl 12, Govan 8, Coleman 5, Lundberg 3, Dunn 3.
**Helias (56):** Hillman 28, Buffington 10, Morris 8, Blanton 6, Wood 4.
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