Second half shooting slump dooms Trailblazers against Lake Land College

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers fell to 6-8 on the season in Region 24 play after dropping an 83-63 finish against the Lake Land College Lakers at the P.E. Complex Saturday night.

The Trailblazers shot 28-percent from the floor in the second half as the Lakers pulled away late for the 20-point win.

Vincennes fell behind quickly from the tip, as turnovers offensively led to easy baskets for the Lakers on the other end of the floor, allowing the Lakers to jump out to an 11-2 lead.

The Trailblazers would respond by going on a 14-2 scoring run to take the lead midway through the first half.

The two teams traded leads back-and-forth until the Lakers pulled away late in the first half to take an eight point lead.

Vincennes would rally back but were only able to cut into the deficit by a point as Lake Land headed into the locker room with a 46-39 advantage.

Lake Land took their game to another level to begin the second half, using a 15-4 run to grow their lead to 18 points.

Vincennes would battle back, slowly shrinking the deficit in the second half, cutting the lead down to just 10 points late in the period.

Lake Land put the game away late aided by an 11-1 scoring run which helped the Lakers gain the eventual 20-point margin.

"I don't really know how to comment on tonight without trying to be too negative," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "They pressured us and we just gave the ball up. We were able to get two on one's anytime we wanted against their pressure but for every time we got the ball down the floor to get a two on one, we would have a soft turnover. We knew where the attack passes were and they were there and we would get a two on one and we would score about one out of every six times."

"We could get our actions tonight whenever we wanted," Franklin added. "But we're just not skilled enough and we don't come in here and work on those skills enough. It's been that way all year and people continue to do it because we're not skilled enough to deal with it."

"Whatever it is, we just haven't gotten the product good enough to deal with it. We know what our opponents are doing. We know what the counter is to it. Those should be things, at this stage of the year, that you can do a high rate and we can't. It's my job to have it better and I know what the advantages are and how to get there and we certainly can't be this way in the future."

VU was led offensively by freshman Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) who recorded his 12th double-double of the season, his third in a row, ending with 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Freshman Darrius Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) attacked the basket early and often Saturday night on his way to 13 points and eight rebounds.

Freshman Thow James Biel (Calgary, Alberta) was the third VU scorer to reach double figures, ending his day with 10 points and four rebounds.

Freshman Brevin Jefferson (Indianapolis, Ind.) had an all-around game for the Blue and Gold, ending with five points, five rebounds and a team-high six assists on the night.

"There is nothing going on out there that are not things that players should not be practicing every day," Franklin said. "We've told them. Everybody knows the skill that they would need to use inside of these things to do it and whatever the bottom line is, it hasn't gotten to where it needs to be."

"From an offensive standpoint, the plays are there, the situations are there. We know what we're looking at," Franklin added. "But right now, it's been that way all year, we have not been able to score. Even when we know it. Even when we are trying to put the best guys out there that we've got, we just haven't found the ones that can get it done."

"It's very disappointing and I'm sorry that it looks like this. This just isn't good enough. It's not good enough that we only have one player shooting above 40-percent in mid-February. I feel bad for Shilo. If we were disciplined enough to be able to get him the ball more, he would have probably had 40 tonight. On the other end nobody is attempting to help him rebound. Darrius made a little bit of an effort for a little while tonight, but after that, it's not acceptable."

"But Shilo is trying. For a freshman and he is a young freshman, he's doing a nice job. He still has to mature in some ways but he has done a nice job and tonight he was fighting. He gave a winning effort tonight as the game went along. I thought he came out of the gates a little slow but he has shown some heart. He showed some heart Wednesday night at Logan. We just have to get more from everybody else. Darrius showed some effort at times but his skill set has just got to get better."

The Trailblazers will have little time to dwell on Saturday's loss was VU will hit the road Monday, Feb. 14 to take on Lewis & Clark College in Godfrey, Ill. Tip-off time for this game is set for 8 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes won 61-59 against Lewis & Clark in late January after VU erased an 11-point halftime deficit the similarly-named Trailblazers.

"I was very disappointed in our effort on the glass," Franklin said. "I was very disappointed in our effort to communicate with each other defensively. So, it's going to be up to them, if they want to play hard enough. If you are in the last week and a half of the season and your opponent is basically making fun of you on the floor, at some point there has to be some competitive fire and you have to prove that you can do something about it."

"I'll be out here tomorrow," Franklin added. "We'll be practicing tomorrow and I'll try to tell them what I know. I don't know if they will listen and I don't know if it will translate into anything, but I will tell them what I know and what I see. If they want to fight the rest of the way then I will try to help them but tonight was just disappointing from all those levels."

"Hopefully we'll come out tomorrow and the guys will get tired of it. We'll see. We've got Lewis & Clark on Monday, so hopefully we'll show up tomorrow at practice ready to go and hopefully we'll listen and get some guys that take it seriously and work to be better at their job. Then when we go to play Monday, they will hopefully take some real ownership and try to prove to people that they can do their job. I'm the same way. I've got to try to do my job better and I'm going to work at mine harder and I'll keep working when the offseason is here. But right now I'm trying to get this team across the line and when the offseason comes I will keep working to make sure we're back to where we've been and try to get it right. I think we all need to do that, because what just happened out here tonight is unacceptable. Ultimately it all falls on me because I haven't done a good enough job. I haven't done a good enough job to ensure that this doesn't happen. I'm just frustrated because I think there are some things that we can do right now that are not outside of their ability level that we are just not doing. I'll try to figure it out and see if I can but I'm going to have to have some join in on this."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (63): Thow James Biel 4-11 0-0 10, Shilo Jackson 9-12 6-10 24, Trenton Johnson 0-4 0-0 0, Brevin Jefferson 2-9 0-0 5, Darrius Davis 6-11 1-2 13, Ketaan Wyatt 2-9 0-0 6, Devawn White 0-1 0-0 0, Grant Brown 1-5 0-0 3, Deatrick Pashell 1-1 0-0 2, Team 25-63 7-12 63.

Lake Land – 46  37 – 83

VU (9-16, 6-8) – 39  24 – 63

Three-point goals: VU 6 (James Biel 2, Wyatt 2, Jefferson, Brown). Rebounds: VU 32 (Jackson 13). Assists: VU 17 (Jefferson 6). Steals: VU 4 (James Biel, Jackson, Jefferson, Wyatt). Blocked Shots: VU 3 (Jackson 2). Turnovers: VU 17. Personal Fouls: VU 12. Fouled out: None.