COLUMBUS — After finishing eighth as a sophomore, Troy High School junior Bryce Massingill had high hopes of winning a state title Saturday at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl at the D-I state bowling tournament.

All that changed Wednesday when Massingill suffered an ankle injury.

But, Massingill wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to bowl in the state tournament and rolled games of 189, 203 and 225 for a 617 series tying for 26th.

“I thought under the circumstances, he did extremely well,” Troy bowling coach Doug Stone said.

Massingill was hoping for more.

“No excuses,” Massingill said. “I was missing left all day. I just couldn’t get the ball out to the right.”

Massingill made an adjustment in the final game and finished with four in a row and a nine count on his final ball.

“We made an adjustment because he was missing left,” Stone said. “I just wish we had done it earlier.”

Massingill’s score could have been much better if not for some untimely splits and low counts on his first ball.

The opening game was a perfect example.

He went into the 10th frame with the potential to strike out for 226. Instead he left the 4-6 split and ended up with a 189 game.

But, he kept getting better with each game, before finishing strong in the final game.

“I was just having fun at the end,” Massingill said. “I had a lot of strikes. I just couldn’t keep the ball to the right. I kept missing my mark to the left. I really don’t know why.”

Massingill is hoping for better things next year.

“Of course, you are motivated to come back and do better,” he said. “I will do what I did this year. I will bowl in a lot of big toournaments in the spring. The team is going to work really hard this summer — just like we did last summer. Hopefully, we can get rest of the boys over here next year as well.”

After a gutty effort to close his junior season.