Pair of double-doubles not enough for VU in first game of 2022

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers began the 2022 part of their schedule Saturday night against Bosco Institute from Crown Point, Ind.

Vincennes recorded double-doubles from freshmen Darrius Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) but it was not enough as the Dons came away with the 64-59 overtime win.

VU got out to a quick start, using an 18-2 early scoring run to open up a 13-point lead midway through the first half.

Bosco Institute would respond back and narrow the margin but were only able to cut the deficit to seven points before halftime as Vincennes headed into the locker room leading 28-21.

The Dons began the second half as the more aggressive team, outscoring Vincennes 11-4 in the early part of the second half to even the game a 32-all.

Vincennes would grow their lead back to nine points midway through the second half before a 10-0 scoring run put Bosco Institute ahead for first time since the opening basket of the game.

The lead would change hands several times down the stretch, eight times in all throughout the game, before Bosco Institute held a two-point lead with under 30 seconds to play.

Vincennes attacked the basket hard on the following possession as Darrius Davis finished off a left-hand layup with under 10 seconds to play to even the score again at 57-57 and send the game into overtime.

In the overtime period neither team could find the bottom of the net, with the Dons holding a one-point lead midway through the first overtime.

Vincennes would take the lead back at 59-58 before Bosco Institute would close out the game on a 6-0 scoring run to finish off the 64-59 overtime win over the Trailblazers.

"We still haven't gotten over that edge of physicality," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "There is a time where you have to just grit your teeth and play through some things. Whether it's holding the post better and not letting the guy get around me, or if it's getting by the guy in the middle of the floor who is pushing up on me by setting up a ball screen and coming off that screen hard."

"That's just not what we naturally do yet," Franklin added. "And we have to get to that point if we are going to be successful. That is what is really separating us from winning a game like tonight. Bosco Institute is a good team. They are well-coached. They played hard. They are organized and their talent level is every bit as good as ours. But we held them to 31.6 percent shooting, we've got to win that game."

VU was led offensively by freshman Trenton Johnson (South Bend, Ind.) who finished with a game-high 16 points, including three makes from behind the three-point arc.

Darrius Davis played all 45 minutes of the game and came away with a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Trailblazers, his second double-double of the season.

Shilo Jackson recorded a double-double for the eighth time this season, finishing with 10 points and a team-high 14 rebounds. Jackson would also add four blocks on the defensive end.

Freshman Brevin Jefferson (Indianapolis, Ind.) played all 45 minutes of the game, along with Davis, and finished with eight points and a team-high five assists.

Freshman Thow James Biel (Calgary, Alberta) nearly completed a double-double of his own, ending with eight points and 11 rebounds on the night.

"There are some other things, like we don't have any depth," Franklin said. "We lost Ketaan Wyatt (Toledo, Ohio) at halftime, so we ended up with no depth at guard because Grant Brown (Fairmount, Ind.) is not here with sickness. We know we don't have any depth and that just is what it is, but I know our guys get tired but that's just where we are at."

"We went to a man-to-man defense late and got stops," Franklin added. "We had enough stops to win this game. We're finding ways to get stops and the game is there, we just struggled to finish. We struggled to set things up hard enough to get there. We had opportunities that we knew were there. Then there were things that we knew we needed to do that we just didn't. I've got to find way to get them through that wall, coming out of Christmas break that's always hard to do."

"Some of it is that we don't have enough depth to duplicate what we are trying to do in practice. I think we will see if we keep getting better as we get back into the game rotation here. We've tried to practice well and I think we are getting better. We are a much better basketball team than we were, but it's just about gritting your teeth. Those are things where we have to get mentally and physically tougher."

"I thought we lost some lose ball fights tonight that really bothered me. We are struggling with continuation of plays, which a young team will. I thought there were plays where we stopped playing a little bit. But I've got to find a way to pull it out of them. We were close enough to pulling it out of them to get a win and this would have been a good win. Bosco Institute is a good team. I believe they would be a top half of our district team and that's where this game was. It was played at that level."

"We missed some free throws from some guys early and we have been shooting a ton of free throws over the break and we've been shooting them great. Things like that just happen in the first game back. I thought we had a chance to go up on the enough to get them down a little in the first half but we never got over that threshold."

The Trailblazers will hit the road next week as they face-off against Region 24 rival Olney Central Wednesday Jan. 12 in Olney, Ill. Tip-off time Wednesday is set for 8 p.m. eastern.

"It's just about getting a harder edge with us," Franklin said. "I wish it were an x's and o's type of thing so I could just fix it, but it's not. We just have to have a little tougher edge to us to beat these quality teams and with our schedule we don't play anything but quality teams."

"Our last four games we've played really quality teams and every game has been that way," Franklin added. "Against Logan, it was a battle all the way to the end. The game was even with three minutes to go. Then we win in double-overtime at Lake Land and win a three-point game that comes down to the end against Wabash Valley and this game tonight goes into overtime. I think all four of those teams are quality squads and if we want to get to the point where we know we're going to beat them, we have to push it up another notch or two. If not, then I think we've gotten to the level where we're right there."

"The last four games have been that way and they have been four games that could have gone either direction against four good opponents. We've won two and lost two, we've got to get where we win all four of them. To do that, it's another edge that we have to push through. I'm going to keep trying to do it and I think the guys want to do it. But I've got to get them over that edge, it's my job to do it and it was there all night."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (59): Thow James Biel 4-12 0-2 8, Shilo Jackson 1-2 8-11 10, Trenton Johnson 4-10 5-6 16, Brevin Jefferson 3-7 0-2 8, Darrius Davis 5-14 1-1 12, Ketaan Wyatt 2-5 0-0 5, Devawn White 0-1 0-0 0, Deatrick Pashell 0-1 0-0 0, Team 19-52 14-22 59.

Bosco Institute – 21  36  7 – 64

VU (5-12, 2-4) – 28  29  2 – 59

Three-point goals: VU 7 (Johnson 3, Jefferson 2, Davis, Wyatt). Rebounds: VU 43 (Jackson 14). Assists: VU 10 (Jefferson 5). Steals: VU 3 (James Biel, Jackson, Davis). Blocked Shots: VU 7 (Jackson 4). Turnovers: VU 21. Personal Fouls: VU 18. Fouled out: None. Technical Fouls: VU Coach 1 – 0:37.