No. 6 VU closes out first half of the season with big win over Southwest Tennessee

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 6-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers closed out the first half of their season and head into the Holiday break on a high note after picking up an 80-60 win over Southwest Tennessee Community College.

The Trailblazers set the tone early in the final game before the Holiday break, jumping out to a quick 21-6 lead over the Saluqis.

Vincennes would grab their largest lead of the first half at 16 points before Southwest Tennessee looked to rally back into the game.

The Saluqis were able to cut the deficit to 10 but were unable to get the VU lead back down to single digits before VU closed out the first half with a 43-27 lead on the scoreboard.

Vincennes continued to add to their lead coming out of the halftime break by outscoring Southwest Tennessee 16-4 to start the second half.

VU would get their largest lead of the game of 73-37 midway through the second half before VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin turned the game over to his bench.

Southwest Tennessee continued to battle however and slowly chipped away at the Vincennes lead, ultimately outscoring the Blazers 23-7 to close out the game.

The comeback was not enough though, as VU ended the first two months of the season by picking up their 16th win of the season by the final score of 80-60.

"Our original grouping of guys did a pretty good job overall in both halves," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "Then we would get a little spurt-y when some other guys would come in. But when you get outscored like we did at the end, that's not the way to send me into the Holidays."

"But when you play everybody, sometimes it's unfair to the guy that was doing a pretty good job," Franklin added. "Because the overall taste after the game when some other guys come in and don't do, but I know that. We had some guys come in and do a good job tonight."

The Trailblazers were led offensively by sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) who paced the Blazers with 18 points, three rebounds and a team-high five assists.

Freshman Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) recorded his third double-double of the season Tuesday, ending with 12 points and a team-high 12 rebounds on the night.

Freshman Karyiek Dixon (London, England) was the third VU scorer in double-figures, finishing his night with 10 points and five rebounds.

Freshman Kale Gaither (Madisonville, Ky.) came off the bench to score eight points, including a pair of three's, while also dishing out three assists.

Freshman Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) made some big hustle plays in the first half to end with six points, six rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.

"Caleb, as usual, did a good job," Franklin said. "Caleb was a good player tonight. He's been a good player most every night. I thought Ryan was pretty good tonight in what we think he is going to be. I thought he was pretty solid in what he was doing. Tasos, at times, I thought he fought the screens and then he would have a breakdown occasionally. When he fought through the ball screen tonight it really caused them problems and I thought he did that decently."

"Kale hit some shots at times, but we've got to be clean with the ball," Franklin added. "Michael was pretty good. He missed some shots early but then he settled in and early in the second half he really kicked it into gear and we really put them away. So, he did some good things when you look at it. He was able to have 12 points and 12 rebounds in limited minutes. Karyiek had his moments. We had groupings of guys and when we had those groupings in there all together, I thought we had some pretty good minutes of basketball."

"Defensively we handled that pick and pop action they wanted to get," Franklin said. "We were pretty good defensively until they were just able to put their head down and bang into us down there. I'm not sure what you do with that but I didn't think we did a bad job defending that most of the time."

"The problem is finding how deep you can go into that bench," Franklin added. "If Karyiek can show up, can we put a five out there that is pretty solid. Shilo is going to have to find himself somehow during this break because we are searching to find enough. But I think Karyiek and Michael continue to get better. They are freshman. So, they are off to a good start. Karyiek will have some things to go into now that he's had these last two games where he has really got to play. He should be able to use that to take off a little bit, we would hope. But we are going to have to find another one to step up. Obviously, we thought it was going to be Shilo but he is going to have to play. We can't hope and wish things happen and win championships. Guys have got to step up and do it."

"I think we've got five or six that we might have a chance to get something done," Franklin said. "Then they have to keep growing off of that and then we can see if two or three others can join that eight or nine that we can really trust. That's what the second half of the year is. You get into your hardcore guys that you can really trust and if you are going to be really good, they have to show up all the time. The thing is, the more those guys show up all the time, the better they get. When you play well and you keep playing well it builds on itself. So consistently playing well leads to more consistency of playing well and at an even higher level."

"We've got a few guys that are starting to put somethings together," Franklin said. "It's easier right now for Caleb Johnson to come out and play well because he's been playing well. So, he knows he's got the rhythm and the feel of it. It's just the player has to do that at some point. Caleb has done it. Ryan has put some things together here the last two or three games, so now we have something to build on there. There are some things there and those guys have to keep building and then we have to find a couple more. I think that's doable, so it's all in front of us. I think we've got a chance to do just about anything but there is a hardening up and a leadership structure to be formed on this team. They guys that then get hardened up have to hold the others accountable. That's something we haven't really had this year and we are going to have to develop that and we will have plenty to draw on."

The Trailblazers will return to action after the Holiday break at the Physical Education Complex when VU plays host to Harry S. Truman College Saturday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. eastern.

"We've had 17 games, 16 at least legitimate type, Division I or Top-10 Division II games," Franklin said. "We've gone a long way down the road here in terms of gaining experience. So now we'll see what we do with it. We'll have about two weeks from the time we get back to when we go play at Lincoln Trail in a big road game to really get good and get better. Hopefully, that's what we see emerge."

"As far as record and where we are at, I'm happy," Franklin added. "Our goals and aspirations are to be champions. Champions live by a different creed. Everybody has their own opinions on it, but champions live on a different creed. That's why they are champions. They don't go by somebody else's standard or what somebody else thinks. They don't and I've won a lot of championships over the years and we've had young men rise up and become champions at a lot of levels, including the ultimate level. That's what we aspire to here."

"For me, we've got some things done, but we've got to take about two or three more big steps to be playing at a championship level," Franklin said. "I'm not going to be really happy until I see us aspiring all the way to that. Whether we are there or not, I will get happy when I feel like we are really sprinting to that. We can do it but can do it doesn't do it. You've got to do it and when we get back there can be no more. We have to do it. Big expectations on my part, I'm going to expect a lot from them. I'm going to expect more from them than anybody has expected of them in their lives. I know that. It's going to be harder than anything they've ever done. It's supposed to be. Being a champion, especially at this level, is supposed to be almost impossible. But we are going to try to make that impossible possible."

"I know what we need to do," Franklin added. "I think we've got some pieces. We've got to get some more pieces and those pieces have got to really take off. So I hope everybody has a good Christmas and they come back on the 28th ready to get after it."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (80): Caleb Johnson 6-13 4-6 18, Michael Osei-Bonsu 6-9 0-0 12, Karyiek Dixon 5-8 0-0 10, Tasos Cook 1-6 0-0 2, Ryan Oliver 3-5 0-0 6, Trenton Johnson 2-5 0-0 5, James Locke IV 1-5 0-0 3, Devawn White 2-2 0-1 4, Kale Gaither 3-8 0-0 8, Kris King 3-6 0-0 6, Kent King 1-3 1-1 3, Victor Lado 0-2 0-0 0, Shilo Jackson 1-4 1-3 3, Team 34-76 6-11 80.

Southwest Tennessee – 27   33 – 60

Vincennes (16-1, 5-1) – 43   37 – 80

Three-point goals: VU 6 (C. Johnson 2, Gaither 2, T. Johnson, Locke IV). Rebounds: VU 43 (Osei-Bonsu 12). Assists: VU 22 (C. Johnson 5). Steals: VU 6 (Oliver 2). Blocked shots: VU 8 (Jackson 3). Turnovers: VU 11. Personal Fouls: VU 22. Fouled out: Oliver. Technical Fouls: Franklin (2 – 1:52).