The defending state champion Republic Tigers have a brand new cast, but it was the same old story in their season opener. The Tigers got double-figure scoring from four players in a 65-47 win over Fort Smith (Ark.) Southside Friday night at Drury University. Tim Brazeal led the Tigers with 14 points. Tristan Ollar had 13. Brady McGill had 12, and Brock Yocum added 11. Yocum also had 11 assists and nine rebounds.
The balanced attack was a welcome sight for Republic, who came into the season with Yocum as their only player with significant varsity experience.
” is very important. A lot of nights, teams’ defensive strategy will be to take Brock away,” says coach Trevyor Fisher. “So we’ve got to have other guys step up, and I thought everyone who played in the game did great things and stepped up. Whether it was scoring points or getting rebounds, it was just an overall great team effort, especially in the second half.”
Besides scoring 11 points, Yocum also made the offense go with several nifty assists to open teammates.
“When people help off you, you have open passing lanes to kick to other people,” Yocum says. “As long as they’re making shots, everything’s good.”
The Tigers came out with a hot shooting hand and led 19-16 at the end of the 1st quarter. Both teams went cold in the 2nd quarter, with Southside outscoring Republic 9-4. In the 3rd quarter, the Tigers started to take control. They outscored Southside 23-11 to grab a 46-36 lead heading into the final period, and they cruised from there. Twelve of Brazeal’s 14 points came during the decisive stretch of the 2nd half, mostly on assists from Yocum.
“That first game of the year, you never know what to expect,” says Fisher. “The jamboree was good to get some jitters out, but it’s different when it actually counts, especially on a stage like this in a big arena. I’m proud of the guys. The second quarter, we got rattled a little bit. We took some bad shots–got down four points or so, but we maintained composure, and in the 2nd half, battled back and did a good job.”
Republic is 1-0. Southside is 0-1. The Tigers will be back on the court for their home opener on December 2nd when they meet West Plains in the opening round of the 50th Annual Republic Invitational Tournament.