WEST CARROLLTON — Troy boys basketball coach Mark Hess said he didn’t need anyone to be “Superman” with starter Hollis Terrell out of the game with an ankle injury Friday night at West Carrollton.

But, Isaac Phillips was exactly that in the first half — and the Troy defense took care of things in the second half in a 52-46 win in MVL action.

The victory improved Troy to 10-3 overall and 10-1 in the MVL with the win, staying within one game of Tippecanoe — who remained unbeaten in the MVL with a win over Xenia.

“We don’t need any Supermans,” Hess said. “We just needed everybody to do a little bit of what Hollis Terrell does.”

Phillips did more than that in the opening half.

He scored 17 points in the first half — including the final four points of the half to push Troy to a 28-27 lead at the break.

“No, I wasn’t thinking I needed to do a lot more with Hollis (Terrell) out,” Phillips said. “We all felt like we needed to do just a little more. Like coach (Hess) said, there was a little bit of Hollis in all of us tonight.”

Hess was not surprised by Phillips’ first half.

“Isaac (Phillips) is such a tough matchup,” he said. “And they were having trouble matching up with him.”

While West Carrollton had used five 3-pointers in the first half to take a 13-12 lead after one quarter and lead much of the second quarter — it was a different story in the second half.

The Pirates only scored 19 points after the break and didn’t make a 3-pointer in the final two quarters until a buzzer beater to end the game.

“We always talk about wanting to dominate in the paint,” Phillips said. “We mixed up some things on defense in the second half and used some zones to take away their shooters.”

Kellen Miller hit a 3-pointer at Troy’s first possession of the second half to put the Trojans up 31-27 and the Trojans would never trail after the break.

West Carrollton scored the final three points of the quarter to get within 38-34, but that was as close as the Pirates would ever get.

Phillips and Noah Davis opened the fourth quarter with baskets to make it 42-34 with 6:40 remaining and West Carrollton never got closer than six.

While, Davis, Miller and Evan Kaiser all scored six points in the final two quarters, West Carrollton managed just 19 points after the break and just six field goals.

“Isaac (Phillips) had a great first half and then we had some other guys step up in the second half,” Hess said. “The main thing we talk about is keeping the ball in front of us on defense. West Carrollton likes to score in transition and I thought we did a good job of stopping that.

“I thought we could have done a better job of finishing on offense and rebounding. But, West Carrollton is a tough team to do that against. But, I am a guy who is never satisfied. Playing our first game without Hollis (Terrell), this was a good win for us.”

Phillips led Troy with 19 points, six rebounds and three steals.

Davis scored 13 points and pulled down six rebounds and Miller added 10 points, six rebounds and blocked six shots.

Kaiser finished with six points and seven rebounds and Konyae Foster had three assists.

Remi Gilmore led West Carrollton with 18 points and Javen Vaughn added 10 points.

Byron Freeman finished with six points and Chylan Ingram scored five.

Troy was 18 of 52 from the floor for 35 percent, including two of 14 from 3-point range for 14 percent. The Trojans converted 14 of 17 free throws for 82 percent.

Troy had 29 rebounds and 11 turnovers.

Sports Editor Rob Kiser can be reached at [email protected]