No. 6 Trailblazers survive road test at Olney Central

OLNEY, Ill. – The No. 6-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers faced another tough Region 24 test Saturday night and came away from Olney with a 73-67 win over Olney Central.

The Trailblazers jumped out to a big lead early, building a seven-point, 12-5 advantage.

Olney Central would rally back before an 8-0 Vincennes run extended the lead to 10.

VU would hold steady as the Trailblazers took a 38-27 lead into the locker room at the halftime break.

Olney Central began to claw their way back into the game before using an 11-0 scoring run to take their first lead of the game midway through the second half.

VU would grab the lead back to six points before the Blue Knights responded back on their home floor to take the lead back with a 7-0 run.

Vincennes looked to regain control of the game with a 9-0 scoring run capped off by back-to-back threes from sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) and freshman Kris King (Washington, D.C.) to give the Blazers a 67-59 lead.

Olney Central would look for another comeback but were only able to get within three points of the VU lead as Vincennes capped off their third Region 24 victory and 12th win in a row by the final score 73-67.

"We had enough periods of the game where we were solid to win tonight," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "And we had enough periods where we weren't solid to keep it in doubt. Olney Central has got a good ball club. They are going to beat a lot of teams if they stay together, keep working and stay healthy, like all of us. That was a quality win tonight."

"They were ready for us," Franklin added. "Olney Central came into this game feeling good and they had an idea of what they wanted to do, which was play physical. They got really physical, which is great, we want to do that. That's no problem. But we had to handle some things. At times we did that okay and there were times when we didn't. That's why the game was in doubt and it was also why we pulled away and won it. We locked in enough at certain times to get it done. That's the bottom line."

VU was led offensively by sophomore point guard Tasos Cook (Columbus, Ohio) who finished with 17 points, two rebounds and a pair of assists.

Caleb Johnson continues to stay consistent scoring the ball, finishing with 16 points, two assists and two blocks.

Freshman Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) came away with his second career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Osei-Bonsu also picked up a team-high two steals.

Sophomore Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) battled tough all night in the paint to come away with a team-high 12 rebounds to go along with five points.

"I thought down the stretch that Shilo, he was up and down all night, was big," Franklin said. "He defended the rim, forced some misses in big situations and cleaned the glass. When a man has to come down with a rebound, he came down with three or four of those late."

"Caleb hit a big shot off of our action," Franklin added. "He finally ran it hard and right and he was wide open at the top and he busted it when you've got to have a guy bust it. We had another chance on some other actions later when it was just right there. But this probably wasn't one of Caleb's better nights. Defensively he struggled. He did not really lock into the game plan and made some mistakes that I'm sure he would admit to. But he's out there and he makes plays."

"That's kind of been the story of our season," Franklin said. "So it's hard to say who played great each night because we are so up and down. We'll have some guys that do some good things and some bad things. It's hard to say, 'that guys had a great night' and it's hard to say that some of them were completely lousy. We're kind of up and down, especially when you are playing a game with this kind of intensity right now. We are just learning how to do it and we are just trying to figure out how to win while we do that and we did enough of that tonight. I don't say that to try and deflect credit from anybody, because we had guys that had big moments and we had guys that had moments that make you say 'what are you doing' throughout. That's just where we are right now."

"We could end up being a really good basketball team, but we are still learning," Franklin added. "Luckily, we've won while we learn, but we've got to learn. Tonight was just an indicator of that. There were no mysteries. We knew what they were going to do and when we locked in we did a pretty good job of stopping it. But when we didn't, they got us. It was a good test, a good barometer for us. But we are just searching for five to eight consistent guys. We know we have guys who all can do it, we just have to get where they are consistent and you know what you are getting all of the time. That's to be expected right now. That's just what you go through, especially when you don't have the veterans back and we are seeing that on the floor. There were times where the game could be put away and it gets away from us. We just have to shorten some of those stretches up as time goes on. Guys want to win. They are a good group. They are trying and they found a way to fight through and get it done again tonight."

The Trailblazers will return to the Physical Education Complex to start the next week of Region 24 action when VU hosts Shawnee Community College Wednesday, Dec. 7. Tip-off time Wednesday is set for 7 p.m. eastern.

"We've just got to learn from what we've gone through so far," Franklin said. "I told them what it would be like and I think now they are getting some idea of that. We told them what they really have to focus on and what is going to be important and that's turned out to be pretty much true. When we've done it we are good and when we don't we're bad."

"We also just need to harden up," Franklin added. "We need to harden up. Be able to do it longer, do it more consistently. Shawnee is going to be athletic and they are going to play really hard. Coach Sparks will have them fired up. Like I say, every Region game is a war and every Region game, for us, is a championship game because everybody is going to play us like it's a championship game."

"Every team has talent, that's why the are in our league," Franklin said. "That's why their guys are on scholarship and that's why they are there. There are no bad teams in the Region. They might be in last place, but they're not bad. They are guys that were star players in high school that are really good and they just happen to beat the other guys that are really good. It will be the same thing Wednesday night. We've got to be ready to go. We've got to battle them on the glass. You have to be able to handle the dribble attack and you've got to handle pressure. That's the ball game and hopefully we will be ready for that Wednesday night."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (73): Tasos Cook 5-10 6-7 17, Kent King 1-3 0-0 2, Caleb Johnson 7-13 1-2 16, Michael Osei-Bonsu 4-7 3-6 11, Shilo Jackson 2-5 1-2 5, Trenton Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, James Locke IV 1-3 0-0 2, Devawn White 0-2 0-0 0, Kale Gaither 3-8 0-0 7, Kris King 2-3 1-2 7, Victor Lado 0-0 0-0 0, Karyiek Dixon 2-2 0-0 4, Team 28-59 12-19 73.

VU (12-0, 3-0) – 38   35 – 73

Olney Central – 27   40 – 67

Three-point goals: VU 5 (Kr. King 2, Cook, C. Johnson, Gaither). Rebounds: VU 41 (Jackson 12). Assists: VU 15 (Gaither 3). Steals: VU 6 (Osei-Bonsu 2). Blocked shots: VU 7 (C. Johnson 2). Turnovers: VU 17. Personal Fouls: VU 24. Fouled out: None.