No. 12 Trailblazers continue to lock strong after wire-to-wire win over Lincoln Trail

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 12-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers are beginning to round into postseason shape as the 2022-23 regular season is quickly winding down, with the Trailblazers picking up another strong 86-60 win over Lincoln Trail Wednesday night.

Vincennes set the tone early Wednesday night, quickly jumping out to a 17-6 lead before extending their lead to 30-11 midway through the first half of play.

The Statesmen looked to answer back, but were only able to cut the margin down to 16 as VU rode into the halftime break holding a 43-25 lead.

The Trailblazers wanted to put the game away early in the second half, with VU using a 9-0 scoring run to grow their lead to 52-28 early in the second half.

Midway through the second half it appeared that VU had taken their foot off the gas too early as Lincoln Trail came storming back to cut the VU lead to 70-51.

Vincennes would regroup and finish out the game strong, not allowing Lincoln Trail to put together a late scoring run as VU came away with the big 86-60 home win over the Statesmen.

"Basketball is hard," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "Lincoln Trail was a team that got votes in the Top-20 at the start of the season and they have nobody hurt. They are a bunch of older guys that have been around for a while. So, it's not always going to be pretty. But beating those guys by 26, that's about as pretty as it's going to get."

"We lost focus, got a little tired and winded, which we could have played through but when you are up 25 of 26 and they get up after you, we just lost a little bit of focus," Franklin added. "We've got to do better because we have got to put 40 minutes together. But I thought tonight was a good win. If we would have hit some shots earlier, because they were trying to sell out and stop the post and it took us a little while to get some confidence to shoot it on the back end. But once we did that, it went from being up nine or 10 to up 19 or 20 and it wasn't necessarily from playing better, it just held there because we weren't busting the shot."

"Play-wise on the floor at that point we were kind of controlling the game at that point," Franklin said. "They couldn't score and we were getting good shots. We didn't have a problem getting a good shot, we just weren't confident enough to hit the shot that we were getting. I thought we turned the defense up a little bit at the end of the first half. I thought we got some turnovers that ended up being buckets out of playing solid defense and not gambling."

"Then I thought we handled the first part of the second half," Franklin added. "Other than Michael, who did a pretty good job all night, but he had a couple of times where he went to sleep on Wickliffe. Mike's used to guarding in the post and he did, but he had two mental breakdowns and Wickliffe ended up with two threes. That was about the only six points they had in the first five minutes of the second half."

"We came out and wanted to make sure that this goes up instead of down and we went from 19 to up 25 or 26," Franklin said. "I thought we came out and handled that and then essentially it's over once you come out and have that start to the second half. It was good. Good for us. I think we are trying to move forward. Our deal right now is to win a championship and we are not talking about a little championship, we're talking about the whole thing and I think we can. But I thought we played well tonight. We shot a good percentage even though we weren't great from three. Turnovers were really not very high except for that one bad spurt. We ended up with 11, it would have been down to about six or seven if not for that one stretch when we got tired and slung the ball around. The majority of the game was pretty clean on our part. "

"We've got to keep getting better and we've got to play with confidence," Franklin added. "At times we are. But it's just the accountability of not taking plays off. We are pushing that because we have to be able to put that 40 minutes of our best ball out there. But we are getting closer. We are a really good team and we need to have a really good week of work because we are getting ready to go into a good cluster of games. SWIC on Wednesday, at Wabash on Saturday and Olney here Tuesday, so it's like a mini tournament, before the tournament. That's how we are looking at it. We are going to prepare for these last three games like we are preparing for the District Tournament and in many ways for us it is. We are getting closer and closer to playing our way into Hutch. We are getting really close to punching that ticket and getting if we can get these next three wins, it's going to be tough to keep us out at that point."

VU was led offensively by sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) as his streak of consecutive games with 10 or more points now sits at 21 after picking up 22 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Freshman Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) continues to be a force in the paint and on the glass, finishing off his sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Sophomore Tasos Cook (Columbus, Ohio) was the third VU scorer to reach double-figures, connecting on three three-pointers on his way to 11 points and a team-high four assists.

Sophomore Trenton Johnson (South Bend, Ind.) and freshman James Locke IV (Spencer, Okla.) came off the bench and contributed behind the arc. The pair each hit a pair of threes with Johnson coming away with seven points and Locke ending with six points and four assists.

Freshmen Kris and Kent King (Washington, D.C.) continue to show signs of improvement, with Kris ending with six points on six of six shooting from the free throw line and five rebounds. Kent also finished with six points, while also dishing out three assists.

Sophomore Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) had a big night in the paint, ending with eight rebounds, five points and a team-high three blocks.

"Michael's numbers were all generated in less than half a game," Franklin said. "He played around 19 minutes tonight because of some early foul trouble and then we had a lead late so we kept him out. So 15 points and 11 rebounds when everybody is collapsing around you in 19 minutes at this level is pretty good and he has been pretty good. I think he will continue to get better. He's finishing better and understanding how to use his body better and he's become more athletic."

"We work really hard at being more athletic," Franklin added. "They work hard at that in the weight room and he's more athletic. He had a dunk at Lake Land. He was dunking in practice on people, going straight up off of two feet and he couldn't do that earlier in the year. Victor Lado is getting more athletic all the time. He didn't play as much tonight because they were smaller. But you can see these guys, that they are getting better. Not only in their skills but physically we are getting better. This new team is starting to get more acclimated to college basketball."

"I thought Caleb had a good night," Franklin said. "I kept him in too long in the second half. He got tired. We had a big lead and he was tired so he let up and he gave up some plays and had some sloppy plays but other than that he was good. He had some wide open threes that he is going to nail most of the time, but he kept playing. He got the ball to the basket, found the seams and made the plays. He had a nice steal after fighting through a screen in the second half that was part of completely putting the game away. He did good things for us tonight and he's played well for us all year."

"I thought we were good in a lot of spots tonight," Franklin added. "It was good to see Tasos hit some threes. If he hits threes, which he is obviously capable of, shoots the right ones and they are going to play off of him and collapse the post because they are afraid of our inside game and it's to that level where you should be afraid of it, he's going to get some wide open shots. If he hits them, now you've got some bad answers. Same thing out of James Locke. He hit a couple of threes tonight. I wasn't excited about the way our guards were playing. Particularly offensively. We went to James. I thought there would be some open looks. We've been talking with him about what he needs to do to play and tonight I think he did some of those things. He hit the two shots at the right time that were big in spreading the game. He also ended up with four assists and no turnovers and I thought he guarded pretty hard, fought screens and battled. So he took a step forward tonight."

"James and Trenton, if we can find one of those two or if we get them both, much like Tasos, it makes all the difference in the world for us," Franklin said. "Then it leaves teams with no answers. If they guard hard, don't turn it over and hit the open shot, that added to the other things that we bring to the table is a problem. Then we start getting Tasos and Kent going downhill when they spread and start finishing some plays, then it really starts to be a problem."

"Kent King got a lot of time on the floor tonight," Franklin added. "He's continuing to get his feet under him. You can see that he can get the ball downhill at times. There's some strength and size there. He's just got to keep getting better and more confident to give us that option. But I thought it was a good effort across the board."

"We are still evolving," Franklin said. "I thought we saw some of those things out here tonight. I thought Devawn came in late and did some good things. I didn't think he came in ready in the first half and I took him right back out and I thought in the second half he gave us better. I thought everybody did. Shilo didn't have that many points but I thought he played fine. They were collapsing all around him and I thought he did a pretty good job. Tonight he had to go out and guard on the floor against guys that drive it and I thought he held up fairly well. He got caught in a couple of screens that he doesn't usually see but I thought otherwise he did a good job. It was a good game and we've got to continually get better, but I thought tonight was a good game. But now we've got a big week of work ahead of us."

The Trailblazers will now have a week to prepare for another big Region 24 showdown at the P.E. Complex when VU hosts Southwestern Illinois College Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. eastern.

The Blue Storm defeated the Trailblazers 59-50 in Belleville just over a month ago, so VU will be looking to even the score next Wednesday in Vincennes.

"I just want championship work," Franklin said. "It's that time of year and we're in it, so that's what you need to do. I want to see hungry, sharp, holding each other accountable, holding yourself accountable all of the time. That's what I want to see. I want to see people that look like they are smelling it and tasting it and want to do everything they can to get it. I don't care who we play. I just want to see us playing that way."

"I really believe that if we play that way and we work that way, I think we are going to be a hard out," Franklin added. "I think we are going to be a tough 40 minutes for somebody. Somebody is going to have to play well and if we hit shots at a decent rate, which I think we can and I think we are getting to where we are really getting better at that. If we hit shots, it's going to be a really tough 40 minutes. I want to see everybody working their tail off at that and just getting yourself ready."

"It's an exciting time now and we're in it," Franklin said. "We are in a race. You spend all offseason, preseason, you spend all year putting a good schedule together and getting yourself ready and figuring out your team, it's here now. We are playing like regular season games are playoff games to get that ticket punched to Hutch even before we get to the postseason. Then we will be playing for a District Championship and hopefully not only playing for a District Championship, but a bye at Hutch. Then we will turn our sites toward going out and winning a National Championship. That's not just saying, now you're in it. You are in that line to get that done and it's very real. What I want to see is every member of our team is not only feeling it and wants it, but they are in that mindset of 'I am going to take it' and I think we are getting better at that."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (86): Caleb Johnson 8-13 5-7 22, Michael Osei-Bonsu 7-11 1-1 15, Shilo Jackson 1-1 3-4 5, Tasos Cook 4-9 0-0 11, Ryan Oliver 0-3 0-2 0, Trenton Johnson 2-4 1-2 7, James Locke IV 2-3 0-0 6, Devawn White 1-1 0-0 2, Kris King 0-2 6-6 6, Kent King 2-5 2-4 6, Victor Lado 1-1 0-0 2, Karyiek Dixon 1-1 2-2 4, Team 29-54 20-28 86.

Lincoln Trail – 25   35 – 60

VU (24-3, 12-3) – 43   43 – 86

Three-point goals: VU 8 (Cook 3, T. Johnson 2, Locke IV 2, C. Johnson). Rebounds: VU 39 (Osei-Bonsu 11). Assists: VU 20 (Cook 4, Locke IV 4). Steals: VU 6 (C. Johnson 2, Kr. King 2). Blocked Shots: VU 6 (Jackson 3). Turnovers: VU 11. Personal Fouls: VU 21. Fouled out: Kr. King.