By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD – Down by three in the closing moments of regulation, Republic coach Tim Brown used a timeout to draw up how the final 8.1 seconds were supposed to transpire.
Ahlante Askew would collect the inbounds pass and dribble up the floor, at which point the senior would find whichever Republic player happened to have the best look at the basket.
Good thing he didn’t listen.
Askew opted to take the shot himself and nailed a game-tying buzzer-beater, and Republic rode the momentum to a 51-45 overtime victory over Hartville in a Blue Division semifinal on Wednesday night at Great Southern Bank Arena.
“I was told to go drive and kick it to a teammate,” Askew said. “I knew in my head I was shooting the ball. As soon as I got a little bit of space past the half-court line, I said I was letting it go.”
Askew’s heroic heave was part of a 22-point outing that propelled the second-seeded Tigers (9-1) back to a Blue & Gold Tournament championship game for the first time since 2020.
The Tigers, who fell to host Greenwood in that game, will face fifth-seeded Sparta (9-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Great Southern Bank Arena with a chance to claim their first title since 2016.
The ending wasn’t exactly what the Tigers planned, but exactly what they needed in the moment.
“He pulled pretty early,” Brown said. “I give a lot of freedom to our best players and good players. Thought he had time to maybe make a play, but he channeled his inner Steph Curry and bailed us out. In games like this, you have to have big-time players make big-time plays and do your best to put them in a position to do it. He bailed us out tonight.”
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Askew’s shot tied the game at 41, as the Tigers overcame a four-point deficit with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. After that, there was only one thought going through his head.
“Let’s go win the game,” Askew said. “They were celebrating it. I celebrated for a little bit, but then I knew it was winning time and that’s what we had to go do.”
Askew followed the trey with another one to open the four-minute overtime session, and the Tigers never surrendered the lead.
It was the kind of effort Askew has delivered countless times over the past four seasons, as he’s grown from a promising freshman starter into one of the region’s premier talents.
“He’s special,” Brown said. “I’ve said that. He’s started for us since he was a freshman and our program has been fortunate to play in a lot of big games and he’s been a big part of that all four years. It’s been awesome to see him grow.”
Republic’s six-point margin of victory was the largest lead either side held in a back-and-forth contest that featured 13 lead changes, six ties – and Hartville’s signature, clock-chewing style that has led the team to three state titles and two Blue & Gold championships since 2016.
“We scored more than I thought we would tonight,” Brown said. “I thought it would probably be a little lower-scoring than that. I’m glad we had 51 and it was the winning score. Didn’t really care how many it was, as long as we were on the winning side.”
Neither team made a field goal in the fourth quarter until Haylon Bel hit a 3-pointer with 2:45 remaining that gave the Eagles their final lead of the night. Askew’s shot was just the fourth field goal made by either team during that final period, which saw 19 combined free-throw attempts.
“It’s really hard,” Brown said. “They do such a good job of playing their style. There are so many similarities and things that they do and we do and we respect that. We like the way they play. A lot of the offensive things both teams were doing were very similar. We just shot a little bit faster than they did, at times.”
Bel’s trey was the last field goal the Eagles made all night, though they rallied to tie the game at 44 on free throws from Grant Culver and Logan Simpson.
But the Tigers were quick to answer, as Hartville fouled Jordan Douglas on his next trey attempt and the junior made all three of his free-throw attempts to restore the three-point lead.
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“We talk about winning as many four-minute battles as we can,” Brown said. “I felt like the first four minutes of the game, we came out and had the right intensity. We did things well. We kind of dropped our level, they grinded us down. Then I thought in overtime, the last four minutes, we were really well in that. We kept our composure and we got our footing there and finished the game like we should have.”
Culver scored 16 points to lead Hartville (10-1), which will face defending Gold Division champion Bolivar (6-3) at 4 p.m. Thursday at Great Southern Bank Arena in the third-place game.
Republic got nine points from Douglas and six apiece from James Rexroat and Brenley Hagewood, but must quickly shift its focus to a red-hot Sparta team that is coming off back-to-back upsets.
One night after beating fourth-seeded Ozark, the Trojans one-upped themselves with a stunning 68-66 triumph over the top-seeded Liberators in double-overtime earlier Wednesday.
“Bottom line is Sparta’s good,” Brown said. “You get a chance to play for a Blue & Gold Final, you better put all chips on the table and every kid better hook it up, no matter how many minutes they’ve played the last three days.”
REPUBLIC 9 11 11 10 10 — 51
HARTVILLE 7 15 7 12 4 — 45
