No. 14 Trailblazers fall in hard fought Region 24 Championship game

INA, Ill. – The No. 14-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers will be one of many teams looking to receive an At-Large bid to the 2023 NJCAA Division I National Tournament this Sunday after VU fell to No. 2 John A. Logan 73-66 in the Region 24 Championship game Friday night.

The Trailblazers got off to a really good start in the first few minutes Friday night, forcing the Volunteers to two turnovers in their first three possessions and capitalizing on the other end to take an early 4-0 lead.

John A Logan would get things going offensively and score the next seven points to take the lead.

VU would take the lead back at 8-7 and would not relinquish it for most of the rest of the game.

Vincennes used an 11-2 scoring run late in the first half to take a 28-17 lead before John A. Logan closed out the first 20 minutes of action with a basket and two free throws to head into the locker room trailing the Blazers 28-21.

The Trailblazers looked to continue to ride the momentum of the first half in the second and held a 44-35 lead early in the second half.

The two teams traded baskets with the Volunteers slowly cutting into the lead. John A. Logan would grab the lead back from VU at 53-52 with 6:24 on the clock.

Vincennes would rally back with a 7-2 scoring run before the Volunteers took their game to another level with a 14-0 scoring run.

VU tried to launch another comeback attempt late with a pair of threes with under a minute to play but were unable to fully eliminate the John A. Logan margin as the Volunteers came away with the 73-66 victory.

"I thought our guys played really hard," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "I thought our guys played tough-minded for the most part throughout the game. I thought we had them on the ropes in the second half. They are a great team. Obviously, they are going to be the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament and I thought we showed that our level, we are right there. We are probably a top-five team in the country from the level of play at this point and I thought we should have won tonight."

"I have total respect for them, they've got a good team, they made shots and made plays," Franklin added. "I've know Coach Smithpeters since he was a little kid and he's done a great job with them. I thought the play on the floor was very physical. I thought we had to play through a lot of hands, especially when we were trying to run our offense and it effected how we played."

"Obviously this was a road game for us," Franklin said. "This whole place was packed with Logan fans and I thought our guys handled that pretty well most of the night. I thought we had a couple of errors late. I thought we were getting held pretty good in the second half. But Logan played physical. They were behind, they were in trouble and they were on the ropes and they should. We've just got to find a way to be tougher minded and play through it, no matter what it is, because at the end of the day it doesn't make any difference to whether you win or you lose."

"I thought our guys played well," Franklin added. "And you've got to play well against them to push them to the brink. They are the No. 1 team in the country for a reason. But I think, at this point, that we are every bit as good and I think if you watched this game you would think the same. I thought we had a pretty good idea of how we needed to play to try and stop them and I thought we did a pretty good job in the first half. We got stuck on some screens and just tougher minded things that we've just got to get through. We've got new guys who haven't been through this before. But this was a heck of a basketball game and I thought our guys played really hard."

"We were just a play or two away tonight," Franklin said. "We had a couple right in position to score and we just had the ball knocked out of our hands or we fumbled it, which ended up being buckets the other way. It was a couple of four-point swings that when you play against a team that good, you can't have. But I think our team, once again, proved what quality they are tonight. Plain and simple. If that's the No. 1 team in the country and I think they have been for about the last three months, then we've got to be right up there by them. I don't know who would be better than them and I don't know anybody who has played them like we just played them. I don't know many teams that could be put in the situation we were in tonight that could fare a lot better than we did."

VU was led offensively by an outstanding performance off the bench by freshman Kris King (Washington, D.C.) who finished with 24 points, including a perfect three of three from behind the three-point arc, while also grabbing four rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists.

Sophomore Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) got the scoring going early in the paint on his way to 12 points, six rebounds and a team-high two blocks.

Sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) continues to add to his streak of scoring in double-figures, finishing the night with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Sophomore Tasos Cook (Columbus, Ohio) would reach double figures as well with 10 points and a team-high six assists for the Trailblazers.

Freshman Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) continued his good play this postseason by matching Cook's team-high six assists, grabbing five rebounds and scoring four points.

Freshman Michael Osei-Bonsu battled in the paint all night to lead the Blazers with 10 rebounds.

"I thought everybody played hard," Franklin said. "Obviously Kris gave us a punch that we needed. We have been getting that punch from Caleb all season and he just didn't have it tonight, so Kris really stepped up and took that."

"I thought Shilo had good moments," Franklin added. "I thought he had some emergence and he's still got more to go. He was dealing with some contact all night and didn't shoot a free throw. But he's gone through a bit of a grinder all season because everybody wants to play him physical and he doesn't get the whistles. So now he should be ready for it when he goes to the National Tournament."

"Michael gives you some physicality and he plays hard," Franklin said. "He had a couple of mistakes in the second half, but he's a freshman. I thought he did well but he's still learning. Shilo is a sophomore, but he's still young. He should be a freshman age wise and he hasn't been through it where we are really good before, so he is still learning too as a sophomore. Michael's a freshman. Kris is a freshman. Tasos and Caleb are sophomores, but they are new here. I thought everybody tried. I thought everybody gave a good effort. It was a good effort by our team, just not quite enough given what we were facing tonight."

"That's why I'm encouraged that if we get to go to Kansas, which I anticipate we will, I think we can still get another notch up if these guys really want to," Franklin added. "I think that if we improve a little bit, then we've got a chance. But we've still yet to have that game where everybody is having a good game. They don't have to be great, just good. I thought they all played pretty hard tonight, but we just didn't have it where everybody clicked. If we ever get everybody to click on the same night, which is what you need this time of year, especially when you don't have that superstar guy. Our team's got a lot of good players, but we don't have that superstar, so we need everybody to show up and play good. If we can get everybody to show up and play good in Kansas, I said it back when we played Lake Land, that I like our team and I think we've got a chance. Leaving the game tonight, against the No. 1 team in pretty much a road environment, I don't have any reason not to believe that if we keep pushing and moving forward, that we can play with anybody."

The Trailblazers now sit at 28-5 on the season and will now throw their name into the list of teams hoping to receive an At-Large bid to the 2023 NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.

The NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Selection show will air Sunday, March 12 at 7 p.m. eastern on the NJCAA Network online at njcaa.org/network.

"We're still learning and the race still goes on hopefully," Franklin said. "I really can't imagine us not being in the National Tournament. We are in the top eight for Division I wins. If you go through all of the metrics we are right there in the top 10 or top eight and we've gone all the way to the District Championship game and played the No. 1 team in the country and had them on the ropes in what is essentially a road game. I don't know how you could prove more that we should have been in the top eight going into the postseason."

"I don't know how anybody would jump above us with the postseason run that we've had," Franklin added. "Beating a very good Southwestern Illinois team in the semis and a big and talented Lake Land team in the quarters and going up against the No. 1 team in the country tonight. With a two-plus hour bus ride every time to come over and play these games. I'm proud of our guys. I wished that we could have knuckled up and found a way to bust through. I thought we had them on the ropes in the first half and I thought there were times in the second half when we had them on the ropes."

"But I'm proud of these guys," Franklin said. "I just think that there is one more surge that we can get to in this season. There are guys that will be back next year and they can learn from this. But I think, in the next week and a half, coming from this experience, I think that this team can make another surge. I think we are right there. But this is the first time through it for all of our guys and our guys have a chance to get even better. If we do and if we make another surge and go to Hutch as I think we would, you just watched us play the No. 1 team in the country. You've seen us play the teams we've played this season. We are tested and somebody is going to have to play some pretty good ball to beat us. So if we go, I think we will have a chance to make a run out there and there's nothing about tonight that says we can't. But we've got to knuckle up and find that one last gear and find a way to get through whatever else going on against us."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VU (66): Tasos Cook 4-9 2-6 10, Trenton Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Johnson 5-12 0-0 11, Michael Osei-Bonsu 1-2 1-2 3, Shilo Jackson 6-9 0-0 12, James Locke IV 0-0 0-0 0, Devawn White 0-1 0-0 0, Kale Gaither 0-3 0-0 0, Kris King 10-16 1-2 24, Ryan Oliver 2-6 0-1 4, Victor Lado 0-0 0-0 0, Karyiek Dixon 1-1 0-0 2, Team 29-59 4-11 66.

VU (28-5, 16-5) – 28   38 – 66

John A. Logan – 21   52 – 73

Three-point goals: VU 4 (Kr. King 3, C. Johnson). Rebounds: VU 34 (Osei-Bonsu 10). Assists: VU 25 (Cook 6, Oliver 6). Steals: VU 6 (Cook, C. Johnson, Osei-Bonsu, Jackson, Kr. King, Oliver). Blocked Shots: VU 4 (Jackson 2). Turnovers: VU 18. Personal Fouls: VU 22. Fouled out: Osei-Bonsu.