On Saturday, the legendary 1962-63 Republic boys basketball team was honored at the Blue and Gold Championship. In that year the Tigers won the Blue Division title over Parkview and a State title.
It was only fitting that on this night Republic would meet Parkview for the first time in a Blue and Gold Title game since then.
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"I think that is a huge deal (playing Parkview for a title). We talked about it when the seeds came out what a cool deal that might be," Republic head coach Trevyor Fisher said.
The game would resemble one of days gone by as Republic would pull off the win by a score of 34-27. That winning total is the second-lowest in Blue and Gold history for a champion and tied for the fewest combined points in the history of Blue and Gold tournament championship games.
The dearth of scoring was to be expected coming into the game.
"We knew that is what it was going to be when we came into it, so we were prepared," Fisher said. "They try to get you to fall asleep with their offense and the way they play defense we struggled finding open gaps."
Republic and Parkview exploded for a flurry of scoring late, but the dagger was a Canyon Smith three-pointer that put the Tigers up 32-27 with 20 seconds left.
"That is two in two days now. He (Smith) has no fear when he shoots it," Fisher said. "He is a great shooter. Every time he shoots it you think it is going in."
This is the second Gold Division title in a row for Republic, which was the goal from the time the committee gave them the No. 2 seed.
"A lot of those guys had a chance to win it last year, but they really came in focused and wanted to get the back-to-back title," Fisher said.
Cody Geiger led the Tigers with 12 points. Smith chipped in eight of his own.
Erik Durham, after scoring 35 points last night, managed just 17 in the championship. No other Viking had more than five points.
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