By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
As Republic basketball coach Tim Brown puts it, anybody who watched the Tigers’ first game of the season probably thought the team wouldn’t win five games.
But less than a month later, Republic stands at 10-0 and appears poised for much more after knocking off Bolivar 64-49 on Saturday night in the Gold Division championship at the 79th Blue & Gold Tournament at Great Southern Bank Arena.
“I said a couple weeks ago when we won the Republic tournament which is a really tough tournament––we beat a good Central team––I thought we had the DNA of being a good basketball team. We weren’t there yet,” Brown said. “We had guys coming pretty late from football, only had a couple practices.”
Now, with the toughness and intangibles already there, Brown sees his squad getting better at basketball, “And that’s the exciting part,” he said.
Republic earned the program’s 8th Blue & Gold title and first since 2022 after the Tigers suffered a 59-48 loss to Nixa in last year’s Blue Division championship. Brown said his players brought up last year’s defeat more than the coaching staff did.
“Two years ago when we won it we had a group we knew was going to have to play a lot last year, our seniors who were in the picture then but weren’t a part of the action and we challenged them two years ago like hey, let’s be back here again this time next year and do it,” Brown said. “We came up short. I think they remembered that conversation and they wanted that moment for them. You see the little kids walking around, if you’re a hooper in southwest Missouri you want to win the Blue & Gold. That’s what every kid dreams of and especially in a community like ours, it’s a huge deal and we have kids who dreamt their whole life of doing it and it’s neat to have another group of guys experience that.”
“All I can say is the sour taste is out of my mouth. That’s all I have to say about that,” said Republic junior Brenly Hagewood. “I’m proud of our guys, I’m proud of everyone that played. They stepped up in a big way and that Bolivar team is legit. And I don’t wish them anything but the best going down the road.”
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Hagewood said he hadn’t played to the best of his abilities in last year’s championship loss.
“This year I really wanted to get these guys a win, especially my seniors in their last year and the sophomores over here in their first time playing and they got the W.”
Hagewood scored 18 points for the Tigers, including 10 in the fourth quarter, and the sophomore he gestured toward was Brody Blades, who scored a game-high 23 points and made 6 3-pointers.
“I was feeling really good today,” Blades said. “Came out and hit the first one and it felt good and they kept on falling.”
“He had a game earlier this year where he had 8 three’s and I think he missed the first 6 and he ended up getting 16 up that night,” Brown said. “For a sophomore to get 16 three’s up and miss your first 6, it shows the confidence that he has and the thing that gets lost in what he does is he’s a pretty good defender, too. That’s with all our guys. We try to base our success on being tough and guarding. Over four days I think we guarded pretty well.”
The championship game saw four lead changes in the first quarter before the Tigers made sure the fifth lead change was the final one with a 13-0 run into the second that put Republic in control for good. Bolivar was held scoreless for nearly six minutes. The Liberators didn’t go down easily, though.
Unseeded Bolivar pulled within 25-20 by halftime and scored the first basket of the third quarter; it was 27-24 Republic after Bolivar’s Gardner Casey made two free throws a minute into the third, but then second-seeded Republic went on a 9-2 run capped by a Blades 3-pointer to go back on top by 10.
After that, Republic seemingly had an answer every time it needed one.
It was still a 10-point game (43-33) going into the fourth, and then Hagewood opened the final frame with a pump fake 3-pointer, Bolivar turned it over, and Blades made another triple to make it 49-33.
Bolivar pulled within 54-45 on a 3-pointer by Casey with 4:15 remaining, and 23 seconds later Hagewood threw down his second two-handed dunk of the night and Blades added two free throws for a 58-45 advantage. It was more than enough in the game’s final minutes.
“It’s a fun group of kids,” Brown said. “We’ve got six seniors on our basketball team that set the tone for our team and fight for our program’s culture and identity and we played three sophomores tonight, too, and a bunch of them came up big. For a group of seniors to allow them to star in their roles, too, it just makes it a really special group. It’s a group that you want to see them have success.”
After 23 points from Blades and 18 from Hagewood, Republic’s CJ Uhl and Davin Parks each scored 8. Keiran Govan added 4, Trenton Coleman scored 2 and Ryder Davis added 1.
Bolivar (8-3) was led by Brody Ingold’s 17 points and 15 from Casey. Colton Ingold added 11. As Republic basketball coach Tim Brown puts it, anybody who watched the Tigers’ first game of the season probably thought the team wouldn’t win five games.
But less than a month later, Republic stands at 10-0 and appears poised for much more after knocking off Bolivar 64-49 on Saturday night in the Gold Division championship at the 79th Blue & Gold Tournament at Great Southern Bank Arena.
“I said a couple weeks ago when we won the Republic tournament which is a really tough tournament––we beat a good Central team––I thought we had the DNA of being a good basketball team. We weren’t there yet,” Brown said. “We had guys coming pretty late from football, only had a couple practices.”
Now, with the toughness and intangibles already there, Brown sees his squad getting better at basketball, “And that’s the exciting part,” he said.
Republic earned the program’s 8th Blue & Gold title and first since 2022 after the Tigers suffered a 59-48 loss to Nixa in last year’s Blue Division championship. Brown said his players brought up last year’s defeat more than the coaching staff did.
“Two years ago when we won it we had a group we knew was going to have to play a lot last year, our seniors who were in the picture then but weren’t a part of the action and we challenged them two years ago like hey, let’s be back here again this time next year and do it,” Brown said. “We came up short. I think they remembered that conversation and they wanted that moment for them. You see the little kids walking around, if you’re a hooper in southwest Missouri you want to win the Blue & Gold. That’s what every kid dreams of and especially in a community like ours, it’s a huge deal and we have kids who dreamt their whole life of doing it and it’s neat to have another group of guys experience that.”
“All I can say is the sour taste is out of my mouth. That’s all I have to say about that,” said Republic junior Brenly Hagewood. “I’m proud of our guys, I’m proud of everyone that played. They stepped up in a big way and that Bolivar team is legit. And I don’t wish them anything but the best going down the road.”
Hagewood said he hadn’t played to the best of his abilities in last year’s championship loss.
“This year I really wanted to get these guys a win, especially my seniors in their last year and the sophomores over here in their first time playing and they got the W.”
Hagewood scored 18 points for the Tigers, including 10 in the fourth quarter, and the sophomore he gestured toward was Brody Blades, who scored a game-high 23 points and made 6 3-pointers.
“I was feeling really good today,” Blades said. “Came out and hit the first one and it felt good and they kept on falling.”
“He had a game earlier this year where he had 8 three’s and I think he missed the first 6 and he ended up getting 16 up that night,” Brown said. “For a sophomore to get 16 three’s up and miss your first 6, it shows the confidence that he has and the thing that gets lost in what he does is he’s a pretty good defender, too. That’s with all our guys. We try to base our success on being tough and guarding. Over four days I think we guarded pretty well.”
The championship game saw four lead changes in the first quarter before the Tigers made sure the fifth lead change was the final one with a 13-0 run into the second that put Republic in control for good. Bolivar was held scoreless for nearly six minutes. The Liberators didn’t go down easily, though.
Unseeded Bolivar pulled within 25-20 by halftime and scored the first basket of the third quarter; it was 27-24 Republic after Bolivar’s Gardner Casey made two free throws a minute into the third, but then second-seeded Republic went on a 9-2 run capped by a Blades 3-pointer to go back on top by 10.
After that, Republic seemingly had an answer every time it needed one.
It was still a 10-point game (43-33) going into the fourth, and then Hagewood opened the final frame with a pump fake 3-pointer, Bolivar turned it over, and Blades made another triple to make it 49-33.
Bolivar pulled within 54-45 on a 3-pointer by Casey with 4:15 remaining, and 23 seconds later Hagewood threw down his second two-handed dunk of the night and Blades added two free throws for a 58-45 advantage. It was more than enough in the game’s final minutes.
“It’s a fun group of kids,” Brown said. “We’ve got six seniors on our basketball team that set the tone for our team and fight for our program’s culture and identity and we played three sophomores tonight, too, and a bunch of them came up big. For a group of seniors to allow them to star in their roles, too, it just makes it a really special group. It’s a group that you want to see them have success.”
After 23 points from Blades and 18 from Hagewood, Republic’s CJ Uhl and Davin Parks each scored 8. Keiran Govan added 4, Trenton Coleman scored 2 and Ryder Davis added 1.
Bolivar (8-3) was led by Brody Ingold’s 17 points and 15 from Casey. Colton Ingold added 11.
