Trailblazers close out first half of the season with home win over Wabash Valley

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers finished off the first half of their 2021-22 season with a strong win at the P.E. Complex over Region 24 opponent Wabash Valley 70-67 Saturday night.

Wabash Valley got out to a quick start against the Trailblazers, hitting shots from three-point range to help build an early six point advantage.

Vincennes answered back to even the score at 18-all midway through the first half but were unable to take the lead back until the final minute of the first half.

VU closed out the opening period with an 8-0 scoring run to take a 35-31 lead into the locker room.

The Warriors came out of the break strong and quickly built an eight-point lead over the Trailblazers, leading 45-37.

Vincennes would battle back, tying the game at the 9:30 mark and taking the lead with just over eight minutes to play.

VU used a 12-2 scoring run to grow a seven-point lead of their own at 64-57.

Wabash Valley would not go away quietly though as the Warriors quickly cut the deficit back down to two points late in the game.

The Trailblazers were able to come through at the free throw line, much like they did Wednesday night at Lake Land, to put finish off a 70-67 win over Wabash Valley.

"Mostly our guys just fought tonight," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "We're still not yet in the stage where everything looks pretty but we are now in the stage where we are a basketball team. We have some idea of what we have to do to go win and we've gotten ourselves to the point where we do it enough. We're still spotty but that's just where we are. We've advanced tremendously just to get to that."

"We've hopefully proven, not just to ourselves but to everybody, that in these last three games we are an upper half team in the Region right now," Franklin added. "I thought we exorcized some demons tonight. In the first part of the second half, we went through the same process we have all year when we we're not playing well and letting somebody else take the momentum from us. We called a timeout and addressed it and from that moment on I thought we competed."

"This was a good win. Wabash Valley got off and hit shots at the start of both halves against our zone. We didn't tag the shooters very well to start the half. We tagged them much better the last 15 minutes of each half, so they got most of their threes in the first five minutes of each half. But we held them to 40-percent shooting and that gave us every chance to win. Our offense is obviously getting better. 10 turnovers, we shot over 50-percent from the floor and there were some things where we were in position to do better."

"We're definitely getting there. We have a better idea of where to get the ball and we did that tonight. We're being more patient, while being aggressive in the right spots. Guys are figuring out what they can do within what we are doing. We closed out the semester about as well as humanly possible given the situation that we had been put in. Our practices got better, our focus got better, we became more cohesive as a team and these guys have been through some things now. It's exciting for our team right now because our record may not be very good, but right now our team isn't bad. The team that played these three games the last eight days is a good team. We're not a great team. We're not a National Championship or Final Four level team, but we're a good team."

Vincennes was led offensively by freshman Thow James Biel (Calgary, Alberta) who just missed earning his second double-double of the week with 18 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Freshman Brevin Jefferson (Indianapolis, Ind.) ended his night with 17 points and a team-high seven assists. Jefferson has also made his last 16 shots from the free throw line, including hitting five of five from the line tonight.

Freshman Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) ended the game in double-figures, ending with 15 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Freshman Darrius Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was the fourth VU scorer to finish with double-digit points, ending his night with 12 points and eight rebounds.

"I thought Thow really stepped up in the second half," Franklin said. "He really showed some life and made some big plays for us. I thought Shilo played well all night and had some plays taken away from him. Brevin was strong with the ball tonight. We had 10 turnovers total against an athletic Wabash Valley team that was pressuring the ball and trying to cause problems and we handled it, where we couldn't three or four weeks ago."

"Darrius Davis played all night and had one turnover," Franklin added. "That is a big deal for him. He couldn't get to the offensive glass as much tonight, but he got eight big defensive rebounds for us. So, we've got four spots where things are coming together for us, we just need to get the two-guard spot lined out. We're searching for that and we have to get our bench rotation figured out."

"I thought the four that were out there playing huge minutes for us fought and battled all night. The other guys tried, but we just have to get them over the hump where they are playing well.

The Trailblazers enter the Holiday break with a record of 5-11 and a 2-4 record in Region 24 play.

Vincennes will hit the road after the break to begin the second-half of the season at Lewis & Clark in Godfrey, Ill. Wednesday, Jan. 5. Tip-off time will be 6 p.m. eastern.

The first Trailblazer home game of 2022 will be Saturday, Jan. 8 when VU hosts Don Bosco Prep from Crown Point, Ind. Tip-off time for that game will be 7 p.m. eastern.

"We just have to work at getting better every day," Franklin said. "We are still a team that is forming and we are going to work on continuing to improve. We've go things that we are working on everyday but now we have some solidity. Now we have some knowledge and a little bit of experience. I know some things about them, they know some things about me, so now it's just about growing. We've had enough guys turn the corner to where we are able to compete the way that we are and those guys still have a big jump ahead of them."

"The sky's the limit for Thow and Shilo. Brevin is still a freshman. He came in last year when we couldn't train right, so he is still a freshman. He's a freshman that has got a little bit of an edge on him, but he's still a freshman," Franklin added. "It has been really good to see Darrius in that group because he really was spotty up and down but now he has moved into that group. We needed that and we still need another one to step into the two-guard spot and we need guys that can come in and do their job off the bench and just continue to evolve as a basketball team."

"There is no reason why we shouldn't continue to ascend. We are the youngest team in the country and if we can find a fifth guy to step up then we really have a chance to take off. There are guys there that can do that job, they just have to get to the point where they turn the corner. We'll continue to work and fix and see what we need to improve. These guys will have some time to go home and reflect and then we will come back and have some real practice time as a team. Now we know things. Now these guys know what to work on. Now I know strengths and weaknesses and where we can tinker and we know it under fire. I don't know if there has ever been a junior college freshman that has ever been put under what these guys have for 16 games. They could have blown it up completely, but they didn't and we are here and we are still a contender."

"We still want to go from being a contender to being the guy, but now we've moved from being a pretender to a contender. I think we've shown that these last three games. Now we just have to take all those little steps it takes to go from contender to the ones holding that trophy at the end the Region tournament in March so we can go back out to Kansas. That's my focus, that's our team's focus and we know to do it we have to take every day to get better. It's hard work, a little heart, a little dedication and I'll do everything I can to help them. I'm totally focused on that and I like our chances to make a run. I like our chances to be a hard out, but we're not going to have any easy games."

"But I'm proud of them. I'm proud of the guys that we have in that locker room and that's everybody including the guys that we have had walk-on that have come in here and had a good attitude and really helped us in practice immensely with their attitude. I think Keegan Morris (Terre Haute, Ind.) and Reece Hammelman (Bicknell, Ind.) have come in here and they have caused our environment to be better and those are things that sometimes aren't noted. But they make a big difference. Our practices, our locker room, our bus, everything about us right now is completely different. Hopefully it stays that way but it has been completely different these last three weeks."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (70): Thow James Biel 6-10 5-6 18, Shilo Jackson 7-8 1-2 15, Trenton Johnson 0-3 0-0 0, Brevin Jefferson 5-11 5-5 17, Darrius Davis 4-8 3-4 12, Ketaan Wyatt 2-5 0-0 5, Grant Brown 0-0 3-4 3, Deatrick Pashell 0-0 0-0 0, Team 24-45 17-21 70.

Wabash Valley – 31  36 – 67

VU (5-11, 2-4) – 35  35 – 70

Three-point goals: VU 5 (Jefferson 2, James Biel, Davis, Wyatt). Rebounds: VU 25 (James Biel 9). Assists: VU 12 (Jefferson 7). Steals: VU 2 (Jefferson, Davis). Blocked Shots: VU 2 (Jackson 2). Turnovers: VU 10. Personal Fouls: VU 12. Fouled out: Jackson.