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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Republic, redux


NW Christian's Derek Iranon battles against Liberty Bell. 
 (Ingrid Lindemann The S-R / The Spokesman-Review)

For St. George’s, the third time was not the charm.

Republic overcame 22-for-73 (30 percent) shooting from the field and pulled away in the fourth quarter to take down the Dragons 58-44 in Thursday night’s State 2B quarterfinals at the Arena.

With the win, the Tigers (27-2) picked up their third consecutive victory against St. George’s (21-8).

But for the Tigers, this one was more about survival.

It was from beyond the arc that Republic had most of its problems, shooting 2 for 12 in the first half and 3 for 18 overall.

“We tried to force them to shoot from the outside,” St. George’s coach Ryan Peplinski said. “They’ve been struggling from the outside and, for the most part, that worked for us.”

Matt Vaughn scored six points and teammate Tim Mackin added a bucket as St. George’s took an 8-6 lead after the first quarter.

Republic’s Cody Groth, who finished with a game-high 19 points, responded by nailing a 3-pointer to start the second quarter and give the Tigers their first lead of the game at 9-8.

Henry Butler, who led St. George’s with 18 points, sank a pull-up jumper before the Tigers went on a 9-2 run to pull away at 18-12.

The Dragons weren’t done, though.

Butler scored 10 more points and St. George’s trailed by only 25-21 at halftime.

In the second half, Mackin capped a 10-0 run with a layin that put St. George’s ahead 33-30.

That’s when Derek Gianukakis woke up, matching his first half six points in the third quarter.

The senior notched a double-double, finishing with 18 points and 14 rebounds and Republic took the lead for good when he scored four points to close out the third quarter.

Gianukakis scored the first four points of the final quarter and Todd Orestad, held scoreless in the first half, scored 16 points in the second half to stretch the Tigers’ lead to double-digits.

A 45-25 rebounding edge for the Tigers dashed the Dragons hopes of an upset against their season-long Panorama League rival.

“They were able to take over on the boards and get that second and sometimes third look,” Peplinski said. “You can only give a team like that so many looks and they are going to score on you.”

Specifically it was Gianukakis – who was held to six first-half points – who dominated the boards.

“We actually decided to rebound,” Republic coach John Gianukakis said. “Derek stepped up on the boards, especially in the second half. He fell flat a little bit there in the middle but he was fine.”

“Our kids played really hard tonight,” Peplinski said. “We played great defense for most of the game and it just kind of came down to rebounding.”

John Gianukakis was pleased to win, but wasn’t thrilled with his team’s overall performance.

“Yeah, that was a little too close for comfort,” John Gianukakis said. “I don’t know, I’m just waiting for my kids to come out and shoot real well one of these nights. I mean, we’re getting by, it just hasn’t quite come to us yet as a group and I’m hoping it will tomorrow night. It’ll have to.”

The Tigers will meet a tough Wahkiakum squad in the semifinals at 6 p.m.

“They have size, their point guard is good and they can shoot,” Gianukakis said of the Mules. “They are probably one of the best teams I have seen here in the past four years.”

St. George’s will face Riverside Christian in a loser-out game at 2:30 p.m.