By John Miller
Nixa, Mo. – Listen to your parents. It just might win you a basketball game.
As a kid, Caleb Singley’s dad encouraged him to always crash the boards after a shot. That lesson, learned many years ago, proved to be the difference for Caleb’s Republic Tigers on Tuesday night.
Trailing by one point in the final second of double overtime, Singley tapped in Treydon Rackley’s missed runner in the paint, lifting Class 5 No. 10-ranked Republic past No. 6-ranked Nixa 58-57 in a thriller at Nixa High School.
“It’s just my nature as a post player,” said Singley, a senior, who finished with 10 points. “My dad pretty much forced me to do this. Every time a shot goes up, you go to the boards hard.”
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Rackley had 21 points to lead Republic, with 14 coming after the third quarter. Christian Bundy led Nixa with 16 points, Braeden Combs had 14, and Seth Viebrock added 12.
Republic (18-5, 5-0 Central Ozark Conference) had the ball on the baseline in its front-court with 1.8 seconds remaining, trailing 57-56. Coach Trevyor Fisher called a timeout.
“We didn’t know if they were going to be in zone or man, so we had two plays called,” Fisher said. “We got the perfect look that we wanted, it just didn’t go in. But thank goodness, Caleb came in, just a great tip.”
Rackley caught the ball on the right side of the lane and centered himself for a 5-foot floater that spun out. Luckily for Republic, Singley remained active until the final horn. Instead of assuming Rackley’s shot would win or lose the game, he made a play that pushed his team to victory.
“I knew there were 1.8 seconds left,” Singley said. “I didn’t have enough time to grab it and shoot it. I saw Treydon, and I was confident he was going to make it, but I was there just in case.
“I jumped up and all the Nixa players were just kind of watching it, so I just got up higher than everybody else and tipped it—not in any direction, really. I just had time to tip it. It about came out, but luckily, it went in.”
The win seemed improbable for Republic, who found themselves trailing most of the night. After a brief first-quarter lead, Republic played from behind until the second overtime. They endured a nearly nine-minute long scoring drought from the 4:01 mark of the second quarter to the 3:13 mark of the third.
Part of the drought was self-inflicted. Trailing 23-20 with 2:38 remaining in the first half, Republic had the ball and held it until there was 10 seconds to play.
“We were in foul trouble,” Fisher said. “We had three guys with two fouls. I know people didn’t like it, and I don’t like doing it, but it was what was best for our team at that time being in foul trouble and Treydon being on the bench the whole first half (in foul trouble). Just one of those things we had to do.”
The strategy resulted in some jeers from Nixa fans. It also allowed the Nixa students, who had been standing all night, to sit down and relax.
The plan backfired, though. Instead of having the final shot of the half, Republic turned it over, leading to a breakaway layup for Combs and a hyped up Nixa fan base.
Nixa (20-3, 5-1 COC) built its lead to 10 points in the third quarter on back-to-back layups by Viebrock and led 32-24 by the end of the period, but they couldn’t put the Tigers away.
“We missed some shots we had been making,” Nixa coach Jay Osborne said. “They do a really good job of guarding, but we missed some point-blank shots in that third quarter that could’ve extended the lead.”
Rackley, on the bench in foul trouble for most of the first half, came alive in the fourth quarter, sinking two 3s and scoring 10 points to fuel the comeback. His 3-pointer with 3:58 remaining in regulation cut the deficit to 40-37, and, with just over 37 seconds left, he made two free throws to tie the score 42-42.
“We knew we had to be more aggressive,” Rackley said. “We knew we were getting stops on defense, but we just had to be more aggressive on offense and get to the basket and get to the free throw line.”
Osborne wasn’t happy with his team’s execution late in regulation.
“Of our last six possessions in regulation, we had four turnovers,” Osborne said. “We have the lead, and we’re turning the ball over. We can fault ourselves. I thought we gave them opportunities to get back in the game, and that’s what they did.
“They hit some big shots. Good teams do that. We can’t have four turnovers in the last six possessions to end the fourth quarter. You can say whatever you want. If we take care of the basketball, we can win the game.”
Nixa had a shot to win it in regulation, but Nathan Elmer’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer missed. Rackley had a shot to win it in the first overtime, but his straightaway 3-pointer spun out.
Republic 17 3 4 18 5 11 58
Nixa 18 7 7 10 5 10 57
Republic: Rackley 21, Smith 10, Singley 10, Stevens 7, Coiner 6, Ward 4
Nixa: Bundy 16, Combs 14, Viebrock 12, Bracker 5, Bergmann 4, Elmer 3, Canady 3
