Trailblazers pick up strong, wire-to-wire win over Southwestern Illinois

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers bounced back from last night's loss at Wabash Valley to pick up a 66-59 win over the Blue Storm of Southwestern Illinois.

The Trailblazers led the entire game and pulled away late at the free throw line to pick up their 11th win of the season and eighth Region 24 win.

Vincennes set the tone early Thursday night as freshman Brevin Jefferson (Indianapolis, Ind.) hit a pair of three's as part of a Trailblazer 15-3 run to open the game.

The Blue Storm would answer back to cut the deficit to seven, before VU took a 10-point lead of 25-15 midway through the first half.

Southwestern Illinois then used an 8-0 run to come within a basket of tying the game, until the Blazers countered with a 7-0 scoring run of their own.

SWIC would cut the deficit to five points at the break as Vincennes headed into the locker room with a 35-30 advantage.

Vincennes looked to hold off the Blue Storm in the second half as SWIC quickly cut the lead down to just two points.

The VU lead stayed between four and eight points for most of the second half, until Southwestern Illinois again got within a basket at 51-49.

Vincennes was again presented with another opportunity like last night's game at Wabash Valley, where the game is on the line and the Trailblazers need to make a play late to close out the game.

VU was aided by freshman Ketaan Wyatt (Toledo, Ohio) who came through late at the free throw line, hitting seven of his eight attempts for the game on his way to a career-high 17 points on the night.

The Trailblazers closed out strong and came away with the big 66-59 Region 24 win over the Blue Storm.

"Last night I thought we had control of the game," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "Against another one of the teams that is battling for the second seed in the Region this year in Wabash Valley, just like Southwestern is. We played Shawnee last week who is the third team battling for that spot, so we've played the teams that will be two, three and four these last two weeks. Obviously we dominated Shawnee. I felt like we should have won last night on the road against Wabash and then we won tonight."

"But in totality when you look at our team and you look at the last two weeks, it's a tale of where we're at," Franklin added. "We dominate Shawnee, who now probably has the best chance out of everybody to finish second in the Region and has earned that. We went to Logan and didn't play for a half. Then did play and got back into the game and showed that there is no question we can play with them. But then we come back against Lake Land and don't show up. Then you see the bad version of us there. We come back Monday and I thought we gave a spirited effort and really handled our business, especially in the first half and put the game away at Lewis & Clark. Then we look like we're taking another step forward at Wabash and they are right there as one of the top teams in the Region. They had a nice crowd and we were handling it and able to control, then we just didn't have the requisite toughness to finish it off. Tonight we come back with an equal level team and we were tough enough to handle it."

"When you think about us playing Shawnee, John A. Logan, Southwestern Illinois and Wabash Valley, that's the top four teams in the Region right now. We were 2-2 in those games, should be 3-1 and showed that we can more than compete with Logan on their floor, much less when we have a neutral floor. So when you look at that, it's just about if we can get a little bit better, little tougher, a little more focused and start hitting a few more shots on the wings, then there's no reason why we can go out and win this thing. That's the frustration when we don't push over that wall right now because what I just said is true. Earlier in the year we were just trying to get to a certain point, now we've moved and this is the point that we are at. It's real and we're not faking this but we can also collapse like we did against Lake Land.  But we've seen it. We're not kidding when we say that we're just as good as the rest of these teams. I don't know if we are better, but we are just as good as any of these teams in the upper half of the Region. Now we just have to see if we can push and find a little extra and win one game at a time come tournament time in a week and a half. It's still doable and I've known it's doable for quite a while and tonight was a good step in the right direction."

Wyatt tied for the team-high in points Thursday night with freshman big-man Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) who finished off his 14th double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman Brevin Jefferson also ended the game in double figures, hitting four of five shots from three-point range on his way to 14 points and a team-high three assists.

Freshman Devawn White (Montreal, Quebec) entered the starting lineup for the sixth time this season and ended his day with six points and four rebounds.

"Our play is there, which is what was so frustrating about last night," Franklin added. "Our toughness level wasn't there though and that's one of the reasons why we put Devawn in the lineup. I thought Devawn has played with some real toughness Monday at Lewis & Clark and then with 10 rebounds last night he was obviously our best guy from a toughness standpoint. So we put him in and I thought our defense was better tonight. I thought we moved quicker and Devawn made quickness plays. He took a rebound away from a guy late in the second half under the basket. Those are the things that we used to do all the time that we haven't been getting. He's like guys we've had in the past that are undersized and it took him a little while to get comfortable. But now he's getting aggressive and chasing. That aggression and foot quickness I think may have been the difference for us tonight and he set the tone with it."

"I also think Brevin came out early and busted some shots instead of being tentative with it," Franklin said. "After he did that Southwestern started to step out and stay on him longer on screens and that's the best thing about him hitting shots. It's not about him scoring 25 or 30, it's about what does it do. When they stick on the screens longer, then we were able to get some actions and we were able to get the ball into the post more after the ball swings. That all started because they had to stay out on Brevin longer. Each action we run has a reaction and that's why he has to be aggressive. Once the opponent says they are going to take that away, then we will just move on to the next thing that it sets up."

"The other difference between losing last night and winning tonight was that Ketaan gave us a solid effort. Ketaan was pretty good on Monday. He made a few freshman errors but he was pretty good. Last night he wasn't very good and tonight we was so we were able to get something out of our two spot and he can also slide over and play the three when Darrius comes out and that's huge for us. If Ketaan had played last night like he did Monday or tonight, there is no doubt we would have gotten over the top and won that game."

"For about 24 minutes, Shilo wasn't great. But we keep telling him that he's guarding himself. It's not complicated, just stick to the solid basics of what you are doing here and he'll be fine. Then he did and when he did, he had no problems. He was successful, not only at scoring but dishing it out at the right time. So, it's up to Shilo. He can do it. He's a freshman and he's learning. We just have to get his brain to be locked in the whole time. He was playing really good going into the Wabash game last night and then he really was a no-show. He's another guy, if he just shows, it's hard to see us losing that game. He didn't have to be great. He just has to be here. Tonight, we had to get him here to close the game, it's hard for us to close out games against these quality opponents if he's not but for 16 minutes he played essentially the way we need him to play and hopefully he carries that on and keeps doing it."

Vincennes will return to the home floor at the P.E. Complex Saturday, Feb. 19 when the Trailblazers host Olney Central College from Olney, Ill. for a Region 24 doubleheader. The VU Lady Trailblazers will take on Olney Central at 5 p.m. eastern, with the VU men's team tipping off at 7 p.m. eastern.

The Trailblazers won 72-61 at Olney Central on Jan. 12, with freshman Trenton Johnson (South Bend, Ind.) hitting six three's on his way to setting a new career-high of 31 points.

"It's the same thing all season, I just want to see us build on this," Franklin said. "The biggest thing tonight and the biggest thing that beat us last night was they missed 35 shots and we let them get 16 offensive rebounds. That's unheard of for our basketball teams. Tonight, we had 20 defensive rebounds and they had five offensive rebounds, which is right where we want to be.  We always say that we don't want to give up more than 20 percent and that has been our standard. Tonight, we met that standard and we won the game. Last night if we had come anywhere near meeting that standard, but some of it was stopping the ball so they couldn't break us down."

"But that's the big thing," Franklin added. "That was the difference between winning tonight and losing last night. Southwestern was executing and hitting shots better than Wabash was last night. The game last night should have been won if we had just cleaned off the glass and sat down and been a little tougher on the drivers. Hopefully we will learn from that because that's the difference. I thought tonight, across the board we were just better with that and our concentration."

"Southwestern presents a different battle though because they are not as quick off the dribble and I thought we had some good ideas as to how to handle it and I thought our guys executed it. That's just what we will have to do. If we do than I like our chances. That's what it comes down to and we've preached it forever."

"Olney presents other challenges. They will try to get different actions against the backside of the zone. Last time we played we weren't sophisticated enough. I think we are a little more sophisticated now and we can handle different actions now but we have to be alive, alert and aware to be able to deal with it. So we will see if we've grown to that point on Saturday."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (66): Shilo Jackson 7-12 3-5 17, Ketaan Wyatt 4-9 7-8 17, Devawn White 1-3 4-6 6, Brevin Jefferson 5-8 0-0 14, Darrius Davis 2-4 2-2 6, Thow James Biel 1-2 1-2 3, Trenton Johnson 1-7 0-0 2, Deatrick Pashell 0-0 1-2 1, Team 21-45 18-25 66.

Southwestern Illinois – 30  29 – 59

VU (11-17, 8-9) – 35  31 – 66

Three-point goals: VU 6 (Jefferson 4, Wyatt 2). Rebounds: VU 28 (Jackson 10). Assists: VU 14 (Jefferson 3, Davis 3). Steals: VU 7 (Davis 3). Blocked shots: VU 2 (Jackson, White). Turnovers: VU 15. Personal Fouls: VU 17. Fouled out: None. Technical Fouls: VU James Biel (2 – 3:59), SWIC Courtney (2 – 3:59).