Nick Yocum took a length-of-the-court pass from Payton Looney and laid the ball in as the clock wound down to give the Republic Tigers a 45-43 win over Marshfield in the Blue & Gold Tournament semifinals.
Just seconds before, Marshfield looked like they would pull off a stunning comeback. The Blue Jays scored six straight points to tie the game, and stole the ball as Republic attempted to get off a final shot. But Marshfield missed the potential game-winning layup, and Looney nabbed the rebound. He hit a streaking Yocum who laid the ball off the glass for the winner.
Yocum finished the game with 14 points to lead the Tigers. Looney had 11
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For Marshfield, Lawfton Summers had 12 and Jared Greenlee added 11.
Republic advances to meet top-seeded Hillcrest in the Gold Division championship game at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. Hillcrest made it to the finals by beating Ozark in the other semifinal.