It was eight minutes that Tipp coach Brock Moon would just soon forget.

With the Tippecanoe boys basketball team only trailing by five points at the half to unbeaten Versailles over the Christmas break, the standard key is the first four minutes of the third quarter to establish momentum.

The Red Devils watched as the Tigers scored all 14 points of the third period, and when the dust had settled, the Red Devils were scoreless and could not recover, falling 64-45 for their first loss of the season.

While the third period was certainly a key, Moon said it was a lot more than just those eight minutes when the Red Devils struggled.

“Just for the whole game, not just the third quarter,” Moon said. “We struggled to score in the third quarter, and we challenged the guys telling them this game was going to be physical and more disciplined than we have seen.”
“We struggled early on to grab loose balls, we got beat up on the glass and it was a culmination of a lot of things. We challenged our kids and credit to Versailles. They made some plays.”

Versailles opened the game with a fast four minutes as they jumped in front early 8-5 before Preston Zumwalt stopped the bleeding with a score at the rim. Tipp had a nice run near the end of the period with a 6-0 run before the Tigers scored at the buzzer to take a 14-13 lead into the second period.

The Tigers were starting to pull away in the second period when they reeled off a 14-2 run in the first half of the quarter to push their lead to 28-17 with three minutes left in the half. It was Zumwalt again who stopped the run which started a 7-2 run with CJ Bailey doing most of the damage with the next eight points for Tipp in the quarter, with Tipp closing the gap to 32-27 at the half.

When the dust settled in the third period, Versailles enjoyed a 46-27 lead and while Tipp tried to close the gap in the fourth, Versailles maintained their double figure lead in the final period.

Colin Turner had a big fourth period for Tipp, scoring seven points, as did Bailey.

Bailey led Tipp with 19 on the night with Turner adding 17.

“We said in the locker room that we learned everything that we already knew about us,” Moon said. “Tonight was the first real test, and I challenged our kids about our shot selection, our rebounding, our transition and we finally got a challenge tonight.”