No. 8 Trailblazers get back in the win column after home win over Wabash Valley

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 8-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers looked to bounce back in a big way after Monday night's loss at Southwestern Illinois and came away with a big 23-point win over Wabash Valley College 84-61.

The Trailblazers got off to a slow start on the home floor as the Warriors quickly jumped out to a 6-0 lead.

VU would answer back however and battled Wabash Valley until VU used a 12-0 scoring run to take a 29-20 lead late in the first half.

Wabash Valley would cut the deficit back to five but the Blazers managed to keep the lead at seven heading into the halftime break leading 33-26.

Vincennes came out of the halftime break looking to take control of the game early in the second half and were able to use an 11-0 scoring run to take a 44-29 lead.

The Trailblazers continued to grow their lead throughout the second half, using small scoring bursts to grow the margin to 20 before Wabash Valley would respond back to get within 15.

VU pulled away late with a pair of threes to finish the game and end up with an 84-61 win over the Region 24 rival Wabash Valley Warriors.

"I thought our guys did a good job tonight," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "They came out and were a little bit tight and struggled to make a shot and got down 6-0. But after that, I thought Caleb hit a shot and finally got one to hit the net, once that happened, from that moment on I thought we were alright. We fought foul trouble. We practice everyday keeping your hands back and not leaving the floor and not smacking. All of the things that we can possibly do. It's a concerted effort and I know our guys are trying. But we are still in big deficits at the free throw line every night."

"We're a pretty good ball club, usually good teams have an advantage at the free throw line," Franklin added. "We are not a team that runs out and shoots a ton of threes, we're trying to get to the basket too. I'm trying to figure it out and I get on my guys when they break down and do things the way they are supposed to. But there's a point. We are trying to take the contact in the chest as best as we can."

"We'll keep at it. It will be a big deal Saturday against Kaskaskia and they are going to try to induce those things," Franklin said. "But I thought our guys fought through that tonight. I felt sorry for Shilo. I think Shilo gets pushed and banged around because he's not the biggest or strongest guy. He gets banged into every night and he never gets the calls. He got it one time against Lewis & Clark and he had 25 points. It's bothersome for me to watch that. But we will keep working at it."

"I thought our guys fought through it and overcame it, handled it the best they could," Franklin added. "Guys had to step up. We had to go deep into our bench and those guys have got to do a good job for us. I thought they did and that was a big deal in us getting it done tonight. Michael was able to hold the line in the paint a little bit. When he stopped them up, I thought that was key. I thought Devawn came in and did a pretty good job against Heady down the stretch and that was key. I thought those guys came off the bench and did a good job for us. Kale had a better night tonight off the bench. Tasos was much better tonight and you can see that our point guard play was much more positive than Monday. Our team is all together different when that's the case and it was tonight. We've just got to get those guys to be able to do it all the time, do it on the road and if they do then we'll have a pretty good chance."

"I thought our kids did a good job and played hard," Franklin said. "Struggled to shoot early in some spots for us and yet at the end of the day we shoot 50-percent and shot pretty well from three. We were seven of 16 and I thought we took pretty good threes. We stayed pretty aggressive against their press. So I thought overall, it was a pretty good performance."

Sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) led the Trailblazers offensively Wednesday night, ending with 22 points and dishing out seven assists for VU, while also grabbing four rebounds.

Sophomore Tasos Cook (Columbus, Ohio) finished his night with 18 points on a very efficient eight shots. Cook also led the Blazers with three steals and a pair of blocks to go along with three rebounds and two assists.

Freshman Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) got the Blazers going early with 10 first half points on his way to a 16-point, six rebound performance. Oliver also dished out three assists.

Freshman Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) faced a tough battle in the paint and just missed a double-double with eight points and a team-high nine rebounds.

"I thought we shot it with much more confidence tonight," Franklin said. "We were much more aggressive and assertive at getting shots so we had a better rhythm. It's pretty simple. We didn't hit a shot the last 12 minutes Monday night and now today you look up and the guys that shot it well and those guys were the catalyst of making those shots. Caleb is still trying to find his rhythm again. There were some shots that he made in the first semester that just didn't fall tonight."

"Michael struggled inside for most of the game finishing," Franklin added. "But we stuck with it and he was probably three for his last five tonight. He got going, hopefully he can carry that over into the next game. But we played without Shilo for the most part tonight and we were still able to get it done. Which is a testament to our team."

The Trailblazers will look to close out the week on a high-note Saturday, Jan. 21, when the Region 24 schedule flips over and we get our second look of the season at Kaskaskia College.

VU defeated the Blue Devils 70-56 earlier this season in Centralia behind 19 points and 12 rebounds out of Michael Osei-Bonsu. Tip-off time Saturday is set for 4 p.m. eastern.

"There are the technical things that we will still talk about that we are still working everyday to improve on and clean up and get better," Franklin said. "It's just the attitude of how we attack it. I thought we attacked it in a more positive, aggressive fashion tonight. We've talked a lot about that over the last 46 hours coming into tonight. How I felt about it and see how they feel about it and I thought they responded pretty well. But they should and they should want to do that."

"We are asking them to be aggressive," Franklin added. "Know your job, be smart with it, because there's no reason not to and then you have to play with a swagger, a toughness, a confidence and I thought we did that better tonight. There are still spots where we are struggling, but if you are aggressively seeking it, you are a good player and you are doing the smart, right thing, eventually it clicks in. If we get a whole group of guys doing that, then we'll have a chance to be a really good ball club down the stretch and there's no reason for us not to be."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (84): Caleb Johnson 9-18 2-2 22, Michael Osei-Bonsu 3-9 2-4 8, Shilo Jackson 1-3 0-0 2, Tasos Cook 7-8 2-5 18, Ryan Oliver 6-7 1-1 16, Trenton Johnson 0-4 0-0 0, James Locke IV 0-3 0-0 0, Devawn White 1-2 0-0 2, Kale Gaither 2-6 0-0 4, Kris King 3-5 0-0 6, Kent King 0-1 0-0 0, Victor Lado 0-0 0-0 0, Karyiek Dixon 3-5 0-0 6, Team 35-71 7-12 84.

Wabash Valley – 26   35 – 61

VU (19-2, 7-2) – 33   51 – 84

Three-point goals: VU 7 (Oliver 3, C. Johnson 2, Cook 2). Rebounds: VU 37 (Osei-Bonsu 9). Assists: VU 22 (C. Johnson 7). Steals: VU 7 (Cook 3). Blocked Shots: VU 4 (Cook 2). Turnovers: VU 7. Personal Fouls: VU 22. Fouled out: None. Technical Fouls: (VU Coach, 1 – 2:40).