No. 9 Trailblazers pull away late to pick up tough Region 24 road win at Lincoln Trail

ROBINSON, Ill. – The No. 9-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers picked up another tough Region 24 road win Wednesday night after defeating Lincoln Trail College 83-69 in Robinson.

The Trailblazers found themselves in a typical Region 24 defensive battle early at Lincoln Trail, with VU striking first with a 7-0 run to take a 19-10 lead midway through the first half.

The Statesmen would respond to cut the VU lead down to four, where it would hold for the rest of the first half as Vincennes headed into the halftime break holding a 33-29 advantage over host Lincoln Trail.

Lincoln Trail continued to battle early in the second half, cutting the VU lead down to one point, but were never able to grab the lead back from the Blazers.

The game remained close until VU managed to get the lead back to double-digits late at 69-59.

The Trailblazer defense held strong late as VU was able to pull away late to grab the 14-point road Region 24 win over Lincoln Trail College 83-69.

"I just think this is a continuation of our work," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "I think our work has been much better since we got back. Not that it was bad before, but we've had some maturing and understanding the value of it. I think just learning from what happened in the first semester, in terms of being a new team. Our record looks tremendous, but we're learning. We are not a finished product at all and I think we've figured some things out."

"We've still got a long way to go," Franklin added. "But you can see the continuation of what's happening and I hope the guys are excited about it and excited in the right way. I hope that they want more, they know how they have gotten sharper, why they are playing better, why it's coming together and they just continue to push their foot on the gas and keep staying focus. If they do, we are going to be a hard team to beat. Somebody might beat us, but it's not going to be an easy chore, especially in about a month. If you want to get us, if we stay right, you better get us now because in about a month, this new team is going to be really, really hard to beat."

Vincennes was led offensively by sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) who finished his night with 25 points and four assists. Johnson has scored in double figures in 18 of VU's 19 games this season, with the one game being a nine-point performance against Northeast Mississippi in November.

Freshman Kris King (Washington, D.C. came off the bench to add 14 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Sophomore Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) just missed a double-double after finishing with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Jackson also came away with a pair of blocks defensively.

Sophomore Tasos Cook (Columbus, Ohio) ran the VU offense, hitting a pair of threes in the first half to give him six points to go along with his team-high nine assists, setting a new season-high for the Trailblazers.

Freshman Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) provided a strong anchor to the VU low post offense, hitting all four of his shots on his way to nine points on the night. Osei-Bonsu also finished with three rebounds and a team-high two steals.

"I thought as a collective group we were tight early," Franklin said. "We wanted to do well but we were tight. We had some opportunities. We had some shots. We were swinging the ball, they had to collapse on the post and we were able to get inside-out and we were just a little tight. We haven't done this enough that we are just that comfortable yet."

"But I thought as the game went on, I thought everybody kind of fell into it and took advantage of it," Franklin added. "We were still able to swing the ball and got it inside-out because they had to collapse and we knew it. Once we swung it and broke them down, we could get the ball in there. When it got in there, they collapsed and we were ready to shoot the ball in the second half. Or they come flying out at us and we could drive by them. We started taking advantage of those situations."

"We ran some good actions early and got a double screen and a jump shot for Kale and got a lob to Shilo because they were caught up in the wash, so it was good that we executed some things there," Franklin said. "We handled the pressure fairly well down the stretch. I thought we did a really good job defensively most of the night, then the whistle started getting a little tight and they were able to get some points from that whistle getting tight late. It's hard to guard when their guy is dropping his shoulder into you and the whistle is blowing against you. That's tough, so I'm going to give our guys some credit. They held Wickliffe to 21 points and probably would have held him down into the mid to lower teens but that whistle blew and he got some free throws. But I thought Michael and Kris King both did a really good job on him. We tried to rotate bodies on him there for a while and ware him down. We wanted to take away the pick and pop. We lost him on a trail and he got an easy step in three in the second half. But other than that, most of the time we did not give him any of the pick and pop action."

"To do that, you also have to fight through that screen pretty good, so you don't have to stick on help that long," Franklin added. "So, it's a collective on that. I thought for the most part we did a good job with that and that gave us enough defensive stops. Then when our offense got clicking, we got separation. I thought our team was good today. It's really good for the first part of January and it's really good because it's come from work. I've been around long enough to know the difference. Tonight wasn't luck and I think we can grow from here and be a lot better. But I think we are a lot better now than we were the first semester. We were pretty good then, but I think we are a lot better now."

The Trailblazers will be off this weekend as Vincennes prepares for another tough Region 24 road matchup, traveling to Belleville, Ill. Monday, Jan. 16 to take on Southwestern Illinois College at 8 p.m. eastern.

VU will then return home to the P.E. Complex to face-off against Wabash Valley College Wednesday, Jan. 18. Tip-off time for that game is set for 7 p.m. eastern.

"Our whole team is new guys," Franklin said. "Shilo plays inside and everybody else that plays big minutes tonight is new and that's been the case this year. We've been winning while we learn. Then there was a period there where I think we got flat and for guys that have been around it a long time, you knew it. We were flat. It was hard because we had finals and things coming up, you've had success and now you don't want to hear it and we needed to get better and we paid for it a Logan and we were sloppy in some other games."

"I thought we tried to get it righted before the break with the last two games, I thought we were growing," Franklin added. "We had some guys step up in the Lake Land and Southwest Tennessee games, but then I think we came back with some renewed focus and energy from the 28th on and I thought we had a really good break and it's paying off right now. But if we want it to continue to pay off it's simple, focus on what we talk about every day, come to work on it really hard, then on game day you trust it and cut it loose."

"We don't play with fear. I thought we had a little bit of tightness and nervousness early and we didn't play real well," Franklin said. "But we could have. We wanted to, but we got in our way and as we knocked that all out of our way and as we continued to just work at those things every day until we trust them and cut it loose on game night but staying inside of that parameter of understanding what's smart, I think this team has another gear or two to hit."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (83): Tasos Cook 2-4 0-0 6, Ryan Oliver 2-6 2-2 6, Caleb Johnson 10-18 1-2 25, Michael Osei-Bonsu 4-4 1-2 9, Shilo Jackson 3-5 5-6 11, Trenton Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Devawn White 0-0 0-0 0, Kale Gaither 3-4 0-0 7, Kris King 5-8 2-2 14, Kent King 1-4 2-2 5, Karyiek Dixon 0-0 0-0 0, Team 30-53 13-16 83.

VU (18-1, 6-1) – 33   50 – 83

Lincoln Trail – 29   40 – 69

Three-point goals: VU 10 (C. Johnson 4, Cook 2, Kr. King 2, Gaither, Ke. King). Rebounds: VU 30 (Jackson 8). Assists: VU 21 (Cook 9). Steals: VU 8 (Osei-Bonsu 2, Kr. King 2). Blocked Shots: VU 7 (Jackson 2). Turnovers: VU 15. Personal Fouls: VU 19. Fouled out: None.