It’s become clear this season that if you want to win on the PBA Tour, you’d better be prepared to strike and strike a lot in the championship match.

Kyle Troup did that Saturday night as he tossed the back 11 to defeat Chris Barnes, 290-269, to win the PBA Jonesboro Open in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for his fourth career tour title.

Troup’s big game to win continues the trend of big scores in title matches. Tommy Jones shot 300 to win to open the season at the PBA Hall of Fame Classic, while Sean Rash had 289 in his victory last week at the PBA Oklahoma Open. The winning score the first three weeks of the season now averages an astonishing 293.

The only blemish in the game for Troup was in the first frame when he went high on the 36-foot Viper pattern on the right lane. He left a 3-6-7-10 split, which he converted. He wouldn’t miss again on the dual patterns with the 48-foot Shark pattern on the left lane.

“I thought it was a really good shot to open the match,” said Troup, who wore the Lakers' colors of purple and gold in honor of the late Kobe Bryant. “I moved my feet just a little bit, changed my angle, and luckily that was the right guess. I matched up really good on both lanes.”

Troup said he anticipated needing a big game to take down Barnes in the title match after Barnes climbed the ladder as the fourth seed. Barnes was coming off of games of 226, 248 and 267 in his previous matches.

“Hats off to Chris,” Troup said. “I knew he was going to have a big game in him. I knew I needed 10 of the best shots of my life, and I feel like I threw just about the 10 best in my life.”

Barnes was nearly perfect against Troup with the keyword being nearly. He left a stuff four pin to open the match and then crossed over on a bad shot on the right lane and left a six pin in the fourth frame. Otherwise, he didn’t miss, but it wasn’t enough.

In the semifinal, Barnes prevented AJ Johnson from having a shot at his first career title as he won a high-scoring match 267-256.

Johnson looked unbeatable through eight frames, starting with the front four, leaving a 10 pin and then tossing three more strikes. But his high shot in the ninth frame that left a 3-6-10, which he appeared to be confused by, ultimately cost him the match.

Needing nine, spare, strike to lock up the win, Barnes tossed a perfect strike to advance.

Jason Belmonte’s first finals appearance of the season was a short one as he was knocked out by Barnes, 248-207, in the second match of the stepladder.

Belmonte left and missed the 2-10 split in the first time and Barnes never let the lead go. Barnes started with a strike, made a seven pin, and then rattled off five strikes in a row to control the match.

Barnes was able to take care of Tommy Jones in the opening match of the stepladder with a 226-220 win. Both players started with three strikes before things cooled off a bit.

Jones managed to put a little pressure on Barnes by tossing a double in the final frame. Barnes, however, was up to the challenge. Needing just a mark, he converted a 10 pin and got enough count for the win.

The PBA Tour heads to Fairlawn, Ohio, next week for the first major of the season when the PBA Tournament of Champions begins Wednesday live on FloBowling.