Tipp falls to Trotwood in regional semis
As exciting as both of the district finals games were for Tippecanoe and Trotwood, they found themselves in another nailbiter coming down the stretch in the regional semifinals on Tuesday, March 10, at Xavier, as the two teams competed deep in the OHSAA Division 3 state tournament.
With the game tied at 44, Trotwood ran the clock down inside ten seconds, and when Justice Taylor scored off a drive into the paint, the Rams took the lead and withstood a last second shot by Tipp to escape with a 46-44 victory.
It wasn’t a game without controversy, as the final shot came when Taylor massively pushed off, causing the Tipp defender to hit the ground, but the play stood, and the Rams took home the win.
“I am super proud of this group,” Tipp coach Brock Moon said. “To end the season at 20-6, winning a league title, winning a district title, and playing the hardest schedule since at least the 2018-2019 is a great accomplishment.”
“Granted, we only get four non-conference games, but I am a true believer those four games helped us come tournament time. Every season, only one team in each division gets to end their season with a win. You always want one more game to compete, but I am proud of the kids' toughness and togetherness this season. This season was one of growth for each player individually, for me as a coach, and for our team.”
Even with all the action throughout the game, all people will remember is the final play. One that Moon called a definitive offensive foul, but he never once discredited the Trotwood team and their incredible effort.
“First, the kid from Trotwood made a heck of a play to hang in the air and finish with his left hand over Bryton Otto,” he said. “I would never take that amazing play away from that kid. But, that is 100% an offensive foul. Colin beat him to the spot, an arm was extended and pushed Colin to gain an advantage.” Moon was also asked about his kids getting refocused on the final couple of seconds knowing a game winning shot was still in the cards.
“As far as getting refocused, by the time the kids got to our bench they had already moved on,” he said. “They were locked in on winning the game. There was no discussion or need for me to refocus them. It was back to business, and everyone had a belief that we could still win the game. We practice all three of those plays all the time, we knew we could get a shot off (full court pass, sideline out of bounds, and baseline out of bounds).”
To get to that point, the teams battled to a two-point margin at the half, with Tipp leading 24-22. The Red Devils pushed their lead out to 39-31, heading to the fourth with Hudson Ganger having a big third quarter.
The game was tied at 44-44 with five minutes left in the game, and neither team scored again until the Rams hit the game winner inside four seconds. Ganger led Tipp with 13, Otto added 11 and Colin Turner scored 10.
CJ Bailey was held to a season low of three points, and while the average fan sees that number, most don’t understand how key he was to keep Tipp in the game the entire night.
“CJ handled the ball against the pressure well and made some great basketball reads on drives to the rim,” Moon said. “The ball just didn’t fall into the hoop for him today. Trotwood did a great job making every catch difficult for him and then making sure he saw bodies anytime he was driving to the rim.”
Moon praised the togetherness of this group, and it showed all season long.
“We chose to pray together on the floor during warmups, and that was an intentional move by the players,” Moon said. “They weren’t afraid to show their faith and what it meant to us as a program. The players chose to have weekly bible studies throughout the season. The players chose to stick together and compete when the odds seemed against us.”
“As a basketball coach, you always want to see your players take something from the program to use throughout their lives. Not only do I think the players took something from this season to use in their lives, but I did as well.”
For now, Tipp plans for the 2026-27 season. People underestimated this team when they lost all of those talented seniors last year, and while they also lose a lot of talented seniors this year, expect Tipp to be in the running again next season.
“We have great, hard working kids in the Tipp basketball program,” Moon said. “There are always surprises every year. We give the kids opportunities to get in the gym in the off-season, and it’s up to them if they choose to work. I am looking forward to seeing who puts in the time in the off-season to be the surprise next year.”
“Hudson and David had great seasons, and I will be challenging them both to take another step forward in their development. I need to do a better job of getting our non-basketball first kids to continue playing basketball. Look across the region at teams playing in the regional final in schools D3-D7. They all have a solid mix of basketball guys and elite football guys playing basketball.”
“Trotwood has at least two D1 Football players playing basketball (Darius Dennis with multiple P4 offers, and Jameer Whyce committed to Ohio State. Badin has a D1 baseball kid and multiple scholarship football kids playing basketball. Jack Schuler and Cater Bellisari at Bishop Watterson. Dom Black at Tri-Village. The list goes on and on. It’s my job as the lead of this program to keep those type of kids invested in the program.”
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