No. 6 Trailblazers pick up early season statement win over No. 25 Monroe College

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 6-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers closed out another big weekend of games with an early season NJCAA Division I Top-25 matchup with the No. 25-ranked Monroe College Mustangs from New Rochelle, New York in the final game of the 2023 McDonald's Classic.

The Trailblazers got off to an excellent start Saturday night, breaking away early in the first half with an 11-0 scoring run to take a 15-5 lead.

VU would use another 10-0 scoring run later in the first half to increase their lead to 20 at 28-8 midway through the opening period.

Monroe would slowly chip away at this deficit and look to close the margin before halftime, with the Mustangs using a 9-0 scoring run of their own to cut the VU lead to 10 and head into halftime with the score 40-30.

Vincennes looked to again make an early statement in the second half, outscoring Monroe 9-2 to begin the half to take a 17-point lead, before Monroe would answer with another 9-0 scoring run to cut the lead back down to single digits at 51-43.

The game of runs continued with VU using a 14-3 scoring run to take a 65-46 lead.

This time, the VU would lead would hold, with the Trailblazers holding strong down the stretch to finish off the 84-66 victory over No. 25 Monroe College.

"I thought we were really good defensively early," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "We thought they would play zone. I didn't think they boxed out really good if we ran some positive action, broke them down some and then shot it. If we missed it, we felt like we could get on the offensive glass and I thought early you saw that."

"We were able to get stops and we were doing a good job on the offensive glass," Franklin added. "Then we hit a couple of shots and were able to expand it. They got back into the game. They started playing harder and better. But we missed some free throws too. We had a stretch of eight points we could have earned at the line and we only got one after missing front ends of one-and-ones. So it wasn't so much that they were stopping us during that time, we stopped ourselves and the next thing you know they've hit a couple of shots and they start feeling good. Well, we let them. But that's just the ebb and flow of games and early in the year."

"From the negative side, we were 21 of 33 from the line and a number of those were front ends of the bonus," Franklin said. "So we probably had 40 points out there that we got 21 out of and that was part of why we didn't put them away. But that's part of being early in the year and sometimes when you are playing these games, you are playing really hard, it's hard to go to that line and make that shot until you really get into that game condition. So, I'll give them a little bit of a pass on that, as long as they are in the gym working on it all the time. If you're not, then we go the other way."

"But I thought it was a good effort by us," Franklin added. "Early in the year against a good team, a top-20 team. A team that's going to throw all of those different looks at you. That's about as hard of a thing to deal with as there is early in the year. We could stop them if we stayed disciplined. But it's really hard to stay that disciplined this early in the year and I thought we did. They had 66 points, with a lot of free throws at the end. We had a few breakdowns offensively that led to buckets by them that really weren't against our defense. We probably could have easily held them under 60 tonight and that's a heck of an achievement."

The Trailblazers were led offensively by a big night by freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) who finished with 20 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and three steals.

Sophomore Karyiek Dixon (Enfield, London, UK) got the Blazers going early on the offensive glass, finishing with 18 points and 12 rebounds, with 11 points and eight rebounds coming in the first half.

Sophomore Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) helped the Trailblazers close out the win with a big second half, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the final 20 minute period.

Sophomore Kris King (Washington, D.C.) was the fourth VU scorer in double figures, finishing his night with 12 points and four assists.

Sophomore Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) just missed out on another double double, finishing with nine points, eight rebounds and coming up with three big steals.

"I thought Karyiek Dixon was really good," Franklin said. "Especially in the first half, getting on the glass. He made plays and he's added the aspect of being able to step out and hit a shot when he takes the right one and people will have to honor that. They will have to guard him. Because he's a good shooter when he takes the right one. He's not going to take bad ones and if he does, then it's a problem. But when he takes good ones, he's very capable of hitting it. There's not mirage to that."

"This is a quality win," Franklin added. "We had a lot of guys step up. Lebron had to play at less than 100-percent this weekend. It's a big weekend for us and our team and he gutted through it and did a good job. It's hard, he's having to guard those quick guards that are going to keep attacking you."

"I thought Michael had a good weekend," Franklin said. "Rebounding and strong. It was harder for him to get as many points tonight, he got in foul trouble and the zone was around him. But I thought he played well."

"Across the board, I thought we had some good minutes from Mathieu," Franklin added. "He came in and he's going to get more minutes as he gets better defensively and gets more solid against those. That's a tough game to play and we probably should have played him more. And we will if he continues. He's a freshman and we've got freshmen, him, Gerard, Damarien is getting a good chance right now, Alphonse and Vilhelm are hurt. We've got some freshmen that have some real potential. But they are going to be a lot better players if they work at it here for another two or three months. So I think we'll see the best of them later on."

"We are no where near where we can be," Franklin said. "The sophomores are really learning how to be the guy and that's different. I think Ryan has been scuffling and struggling until the second half. There was some challenging at halftime and I meant it. It's time to push the buttons, he responded and you see what happened. If you let it loose instead of holding it in and being worried or tentative. Hey, we're here to play and that's the message I give all the time. I don't know if people know that but that's the message. You should know the job and then we are going to do the heck out of it. And I thought that's what he did in the second half and he's a pretty good player in the second half."

The Trailblazers now turn their attentions to another busy week at the Physical Education Complex, where the Blazers will host three games in five days this coming week.

VU gets the week started against Kankakee Community College Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. eastern, before facing Malcolm X College Thursday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. eastern.

The Blazers will then close out the week Saturday, Nov. 18 with another top-25 showdown, this time against No. 14-ranked Indian Hills Community College. Tip-off time Saturday is 7 p.m. and will is Homecoming night for Vincennes University.

"The more guys we get to cross that threshold, we're going to get better," Franklin added. "We are pretty good right now, obviously. We are one of the better teams in the country right now. We've seen other good teams and play them. It doesn't even matter where you are ranked with them right now or where you because it's about how much better do you get."

"But we're in the mix," Franklin said. "We're in the race to be one of the best teams at the end of the year. That's what we talked about in the locker room. It's just, are we going to totally commit to this thing over the next four months. Stay away from the stuff you really need to stay away from, come in here and work. Really push and challenge yourself everyday because it's not easy. It's hard. But man, you've got a great opportunity and I think this team has an opportunity."

"I'm proud of them," Franklin added. "I thought they played hard this weekend. I thought they played tough for this time of year and I thought we got contributions from a lot of guys. We'll see if we can handle prosperity now. Quick turnaround and play against a probably undefeated Kankakee team, who had a quality win over Lincoln Trail. So we know what level they are, we are able to gauge that. They beat Lincoln Trail by 10, so we know they are a Region level squad coming in here. And Region-level teams are extremely dangerous and we've got to have a turnaround here after a high like tonight to quickly get it turned around by Tuesday, we'll see about our maturity from that end."

BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (84) – Kris King 4-11 2-2 12, Michael Osei-Bonsu 4-4 1-2 9, Karyiek Dixon 6-12 4-5 18, Kent King 1-4 0-0 3, Lebron Thomas 7-16 6-10 20, Damarien Yates 1-2 1-5 3, Gerard Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Mathieu Nader-Kalombo 1-2 0-0 3, Ryan Oliver 4-7 6-7 15, Victor Lado 0-1 1-2 1, Team 28-59 21-33 84.

Monroe – 30   36 – 66

VU (4-0) – 40   44 – 84

Three-point goals: VU 7 (Kr. King 2, Dixon 2, Ke. King, Nader-Kalombo, Oliver). Rebounds: VU 44 (Dixon 12). Assists: VU 18 (L. Thomas 9). Steals: VU 11 (Osei-Bonsu 3, L. Thomas 3). Blocked Shots: VU 3 (Yates 2). Turnovers: VU 17. Personal Fouls: VU 24. Fouled out: Dixon.