Clyne’s wish came true. The Red Devils rallied in the fourth quarter for a 56-51 victory over the previously unbeaten Trojans. And Clyne’s 31 points — 24 of them in the second half — were the icing on the cake.
“It was one of those moments where you’re just so locked in you don’t even think about it,” Clyne said. “It’s always fun to have those types of feelings.”
Clyne missed one shot in the second half. His 15-footer with 4:04 left in the third quarter cut Troy’s lead to 34-27. Including that basket, Clyne scored 22 of Tipp’s final 29 points. He made two 3-pointers, finished two fast breaks and swished all eight free throws he shot.
“To have 24 points in the second half when we needed offense was big,” said first-year Tipp coach Brock Moon. “Offensively we were struggling, and he made some big plays to help us out.”
Clyne gave Tipp (3-1, 3-0 Miami Valley League) the lead for good at 47-46 with 3:47 left with a backdoor layup on an assist from Jackson Smith. Clyne and Smith combined for the rest of Tipp’s points.
It wasn’t Moon’s birthday, but it felt like it. He spent the past three season as an assistant coach at Troy.
“It’s a big one for me, obviously, and it was emotional, notwithstanding the Troy-Tipp rivalry, and it was nice to feel good and come out of here with the win,” Moon said.
Troy (6-1, 6-1) controlled much of the game and led 32-21 on Nick Prince’s 15-footer with 5:22 left in the third quarter. Prince led Troy with 13 points, but the Red Devils methodically began to come back and Clyne lit up the gym like a birthday cake covered in candles.
“I just told the guys at halftime, ‘Have we played well yet?’” Moon said. “And they all said no. And I said, ‘Well, we’re only down seven. We have a whole half of basketball.’”
Tipp used a 1-3-1 zone to slow down Troy and keep them out of the lane where they did most of their damage in building a 26-19 lead. The Trojans still found a lot of good shots but they weren’t falling like they did in the first half and the opening minutes of the second half. And Clyne and Tipp kept coming.
“They kept chipping away and did a good job of slowing themselves down,” Troy coach Mark Hess said. “And Clyne got hot. If he gets going, he’s tough to guard and he made some tough shots. We just weren’t able to make enough plays.”
Troy entered the game at 6-0 for the first time since 2003. In the locker room after the game, Hess challenged them to respond positively to their first loss.
“I knew this moment would come at some point, and I told them how we respond to this will define our season,” he said. “This loss tonight does not define our season, but if we respond poorly to it it could. The challenge was we can be upset tonight, but when you come to practice at 3 o’clock tomorrow your decision’s got to be about the program. You love your teammates, you love this program and you love the game of basketball.”
Troy’s next three games are at Stebbins, Miami East and Springboro.
“If we respond in a way I think we can and I think we will, this might make us better,” Hess said. “Because adversity can bring you together.”
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