Red Devils cruise past Piqua, remain atop MVL

Similar to the girls game the day prior, the Tippecanoe boys basketball team survived a sluggish opening quarter before settling in. They dominated Piqua 73-28 in a game that reached running clock status in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. 

Four players scored in double figures for Tipp, led by Colin Turner with 19 points, Bryton Otto added 17, while the backcourt duo of CJ Bailey and Hudson Ganger each scored 14 as the Red Devils improve to 12-0 in MVL play, 12-2 overall. 

“You can tell our guys were out of shape and winded, I am sure (Piqua) was too,” Tipp coach Brock Moon said about the rough first quarter due to the snowstorm that hit last weekend. Tipp had only a couple of practices and none for several days before a brief preparation for Piqua. “Having days off in the middle of the season is rare, and you have to get your wind back.”

“I thought we were really good defensively for three quarters. We did a really good job.”

Both teams came out and hit some shots early, and with the game tied at 6-6, Turner scored and Bailey hit a three to push the Tipp lead to 13-6, and when Piqua closed out the quarter on a 3-0 run in the final 33 seconds, the Red Devils lead was 15-11.

Piqua cut their deficit to 19-14 early in the second before the Tipp boys duplicated the girls feat the day before and went on a 21-3 scoring run with a variety of different kids stepping up for Tipp. Otto scored nine in the quarter and was a huge part for Tipp during that time period. Ganger added seven, but when the dust had settled at halftime, Tipp was in control 40-17.

A 33-11 second half saw Tipp completely dominate Piqua in the final 16 minutes, eight of them with a running clock.

“It all starts on the defensive end,” Moon said. “When we get stops, we get out on transition and are tough to guard.”

“We said the league will take care of itself,” he added. “More importantly than winning a league championship is to win the district title and go play for a regional title. Every day we are just trying to get better and pushing the kids. That’s when we want to be playing our best basketball.”

Also on Saturday, it was a special day for one Tipp senior as the boys defeated Xenia 73 to 44.

Bailey reached the special mark of scoring his 1,000th career point with the Red Devils in their victory over the Buccs. He finished with 16 points on the day, Otto finished with 21 to lead Tipp, while also scoring in double figures were Turner with 13, and Ganger had 11.