The first half of Friday night’s game at Waynesville couldn’t have gone much worse for Republic — but the second half more than made up for it. The Tigers used a dominant second-half performance to pull away for a 61-41 win on the road. Republic outscored Waynesville 39–11 after halftime to turn a tight contest into a comfortable victory.
Waynesville controlled the early action, led by Jerome Shelton, who finished with a game-high 22 points. He scored 16 before halftime, but managed only two field goals in the second half. Waynesville rode a hot shooting start to a 15–11 lead after one quarter and extended their advantage in the second. Waynesville led 30–22 at the break as Republic struggled to convert opportunities around the rim.
“We missed a lot of really easy shots in the first half,” said coach Tim Brown. “And when you’re coming off the week we came off of, I feel like we lacked some energy… we were unsuccessful in putting the ball in the hole. And unfortunately, if you allow yourself to feel sorry about that, it affects your defensive intensity.”
The momentum turned in the third quarter. Republic’s defense tightened, holding Waynesville to just seven points in the period. The offense found its rhythm at the same time, erasing the deficit to take the lead for good on a Keiran Govan bucket that made it 38–37.
In the final period, Republic broke the game open. The Tigers exploded for 23 points while holding Waynesville to four.
“Fortunately, we’ve shown the ability to not panic. And we’ve been in this situation before,” Brown said. “We’d prefer not to be in this situation. But I think there’s some value in the fact where we’re able to overcome these.”
Brody Blades led a balanced scoring attack for Republic with 15 points. Jin Villasica finished with 14 points, knocking down four three-pointers to help fuel the comeback. Keiran Govan added 12 points, and AJ Uhl scored 10.
Republic made nine three-pointers in total.
“We still have a relatively young group that are kind of going through the wars and going on true road games (for the first time),” Brown said. “So I think more than anything, when the ball goes in, we’re pretty good.”
Score by quarters
Republic 11 11 16 23 — 61
Waynesville 15 15 7 4 — 41
Individual scoring
Individual scoring Brody Blades 15, Jin Villasica 14, Keiran Govan 12, AJ Uhl 10, Trenten Coleman 8, Chase Connell 2.
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