Miller's late basket sends Tigers to Class 4 title game

Marcus Miller said he had never made a game-winning shot before. He almost missed the chance of a lifetime on Thursday night.

Almost.

After air-balling his first attempt near the basket, Miller got Cody Geiger’s missed putback and cashed in for the game-winning layup. Miller’s score with 6.5 seconds remaining gave Republic a dramatic 39-38 victory over Liberty North and sent the Tigers in the Class 4 title game, set for 3 p.m. Saturday against Normandy.
 

GAME PHOTOS

“We drew (the play) up knowing we’d get a pretty good shot because we’ve used it before and it’s worked well,” said Miller of the in-bounds play from underneath Republic’s own basket with 9.8 seconds remaining. “Cody just managed to tip it back to me and I finally put it in.”

The basket put the Tigers ahead by one point and Liberty North was forced to go the length of the court after a timeout. The Eagles got the ball past halfcourt before Republic committed just its second team foul of the half with 3.9 remaining.

Republic disrupted Liberty North’s final play and the Eagles air-balled a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“We’ve played a lot of tough games during the regular season and in conference,” said Republic senior Grant Hancock, who tied Miller with a game-high 10 points. “Coach (Trevyor Fisher) always tells us, ‘Don’t get too high, don’t get too low.’ We’re able to handle tight situations.”

Liberty North went ahead 38-37 with 1:21 remaining on Kyle Malone’s basket.

Dylan Bekemeier then misfired on a jumper with 46 seconds to go, but got his own rebound. Canyon Smith missed a 3-pointer with nine seconds left and Liberty North actually got the rebound, only to have Ian Sanderford called for traveling as he fell to the floor with the ball.

Fisher then called timeout to set up the game-winning play. Miller misfired long on his initial attempt before Geiger’s putback attempt from the other side of the rim came back over to Miller, who didn’t miss his second try.

“I knew we had people crashing in down low to tip the ball around,” Miller said.

Heading into the game, Fisher figured it would be a possession-by-possession, low-scoring contest.

“We knew it would be a defensive struggle,” Fisher said. “Just looking at them on film, you felt like you were seeing yourself play. (Liberty North) does a good job defensively, they’re physical down low and they have guards that can hit shots.”

Republic led 25-19 at halftime, thanks to a 12-for-12 performance at the free throw line in the first half. Liberty North responded in the third quarter by scoring nearly as many points (17) as they did in the first two quarters of the game.

Jacob Hanson’s 3-pointer gave Liberty North its biggest lead of the game, 34-28, with three minutes to go in the third.

“Even down six, our guys just kept believing – even up to that last out of bounds play,” Fisher said.

Liberty North’s offense went cold in the fourth quarter, when the Eagles scored just two points and went 1-for-8 from the field.

Liberty North 7 12 17 2 --- 38
Republic 10 15 7 7 --- 39

 

Liberty North – Zach Starr 8, Ian Sanderford 7, Brinkley Jolly 6, Nadhir Daughtery 5, Jacob Hanson 5, Zach Kernell 3, Kyle Malone 2, Justin Offenbacker 2
Republic – Grant Hancock 10, Marcus Miller 10, Ty Abney 7, Cody Geiger 6, Jake Fletcher 4, Dylan Bekemeier 2

FULL BOX SCORE