Republic’s guards pounded the ball inside to Tim Brazeal during a key stretch in the second half, and Brazeal delivered. The Tigers’ 6’6″ center missed just one shot all night and finished with a game-high 16 points to lead Republic to a 52-51 win in their Central Ozark Conference opener against Carthage at home.
“He’s definitely a big-time threat when he’s in the game and we can throw it inside,” says coach Trevyor Fisher. “He kind of sparked us offensively there in the second half. Three or four possessions in a row we were able to get it to him. And he can do things defensively for us too, being big. He’s just got to work on staying out of foul trouble.”
At times in the first half, it looked like Carthage would run away with the game. Carthage led 26-19 midway through the second quarter, but Republic reeled off ten straight points to finish the first half and took a 29-26 lead into the break.
Carthage quickly jumped back in front by four early in the third quarter, but the Tigers closed the gap to tie the game at 39 apiece heading into the final period.
The fourth quarter was close the entire way. The biggest lead was a 50-47 Carthage advantage with about 2 1/2 minutes remaining. The Tigers whittled the lead down to two, at 51-49, when sophomore Ty Stevens hit the biggest shot of his varsity career. Stevens drained a three-pointer from near the right corner to give Republic a 52-51 lead. They turned out to be the last points of the game for either team, as Republic held on.
“By far the best game he’s played in his career,” Fisher says of Stevens. “The three that he hit was obviously a huge shot, but defensively he got a couple of deflections. He took it to the basket a couple of times and finished in some traffic. So hopefully he’s getting more comfortable and as the season goes, he’ll get better and better.”
“When you’re an inexperienced team, you’re just fighting and clawing to find any way possible,” says Fisher. “You don’t care if you win by one point or you win by 30 points, as long as your effort’s there, which for the most part, I think it was.”
Brock Yocum had ten points for the Tigers. Brady McGill had nine. Stevens had seven. Tristan Ollar scored six, and Blake Fanning had four. Republic improves to 7-6 this year. They’re 1-0 in the COC.