Trailblazers erase 15-point second-half deficit in win over Lewis & Clark

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers hosted the Lewis & Clark Trailblazers Saturday night at the P.E. Complex in a Region 24 showdown in the 'Battle of the Trailblazers'.

Lewis & Clark took control of the game early and held a 15-point lead early in the second half before VU responded to outscore Lewis & Clark 25-8 and close out the 61-59 win on a pair of Brevin Jefferson (Indianapolis, Ind.) free throws with 1.4 seconds to play.

Vincennes got the game going from the tip, taking an early five point lead in the first three minutes of play before Lewis & Clark answered with an 8-0 scoring run to take the lead.

VU would grab the lead back at 11-9 but this would be Vincennes' last time leading the game until late in the second half.

Lewis & Clark held on to their lead for the rest of the first half and used a 9-0 scoring run to end the first half with an 11-point 38-27 lead over Vincennes.

Vincennes looked to cut into the deficit to begin the first half but quickly fell behind 51-36 with just under 17 minutes to play.

VU took their game up a level, looking to avoid losing on their home floor for the third straight time, by battling back with a 12-0 scoring run to cut the Lewis & Clark lead to three.

Lewis & Clark built a seven point lead before Vincennes again answered back with a 9-0 scoring run to take the lead with 2:35 remaining.

After a Lewis & Clark basket tied the game at 59-all, Vincennes held the ball for the final shot as freshman Brevin Jefferson drove to the basket and was fouled with 1.4 seconds on the clock.

Jefferson, a 76-percent free throw shooter, sank both free throws giving VU the lead back.

Lewis & Clark was forced to shoot at the buzzer from across half-court and the shot missed to the right at Vincennes came away with the 61-59 win over Lewis & Clark.

"I didn't think we played great until we were down by 15," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "Some of it in the first half I thought offensively we just didn't hit any shots. I thought we got excellent looks at the basket. I would have liked to have seen Shilo be more aggressive on the catch but even when he wasn't the kick outs to the three-point line were open."

"We didn't score hardly in the first half, but we had every opportunity to," Franklin added. "I thought at the start of the second half we made some really bad turnovers. I just didn't think our intensity was there defensively. We tried to go man-to-man and challenge our guys to really guard them tonight and I was disappointed that we didn't do that in the first half. We switched to a zone in the second-half and the ball went in the basket offensively which helped our defense. Strategically we knew it was probably better to go zone from the beginning but I just didn't think we have been playing as hard as we needed to defensively, so we challenged them this week to play a man-to-man."

"Second half offensively, we were fairly good. After the early turnovers, from then on we were fairly good. We shot the ball pretty good, shooting 54-percent from the field and 36-percent from three. But we started to make a couple of shots and our zone bothered them. Then we made the plays we needed to make down the stretch. Once we got in the game, we made more plays than they did. The last 10 minutes we had guys step up and make plays."

"At the end of the game we didn't want to call a timeout. We wanted to just get Brevin out in the middle of the floor, clear one side and attack the basket without them getting their defense set up. I thought he would get to the basket and make a play or he would have a kick to the corner and Trenton could try to make an open shot to win the game. But it worked out, Brevin got to the basket and got fouled and Brevin has been pretty good from the free throw line late in games. It's another reason why we want him to be an aggressive player late, is because when he goes to the line, he's probably going to come through and get points."

"I thought this was a good win for us to dig out. Obviously it was a needed win. This win keeps us in the race to try to get a top-four seed in the District Tournament. We just need to turn it one or two more turns on the intensity side and I think that will help the ball go in. Lewis & Clark had their whole team back tonight, so we played them at full strength and they have won some games at full strength. They are a very different team when they have all their players back. It seems like everyone in the Region is in this pile together and it's all about who executes better, who plays better and who has the better intensity. I think it's a good win for us, but we'll see how good of a win it was by how we come out Monday and Tuesday and do we take this and get hungry for more and build off this."

VU was led offensively by freshman Trenton Johnson (South Bend, Ind.) who finished with a game-high 18 points and six rebounds.

Freshman Brevin Jefferson finished off his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 10 assists on the night.

Freshman Thow James Biel (Calgary, Alberta) nearly finished with a double-double, ending with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Freshman Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) also came close to finishing with a double-double, ending his night with eight points and nine rebounds.

Freshman Ketaan Wyatt (Toledo, Ohio) came off the bench to add eight points, including a pair of three's. Wyatt also grabbed two rebounds and dished out a pair of assists.

"I thought Ketaan gave us good things," Franklin said. "He was two for four on corner three's. He shot four good ones, he missed two corner ones but he made two and that's great. If you shoot the right shots and on an inside-out, you really should be able to hit half and that's what Ketaan did tonight. He didn't shoot any bad shots. He didn't force any shots. That was exactly what we needed. It was good to see him get going tonight after not practicing this past two weeks."

"Thow got a little more lively in the second half," Franklin added. "We've just got to get him to be more aggressive if we're going to have a chance. He got 11 rebounds. He clears out the backside of the zone. He got a big offensive rebound, which we've got to get more of, and he stuck the ball back in the basket which was a huge play for us. We've just got to get more of those and you can see what it does for us when we get them."

"We just need to finalize plays. That's just where we are right now, we need to find that extra gear to finalize plays. We have somehow, without playing great, found a way to win four out of our last five Region games. I think we've got more gears but we are in the mix with a bunch of other teams and now it's about how we finish to give us a chance to have a pretty decent seed in the tournament. Tonight's comeback was really big and we earned it. I thought they guys played better the last 15 minutes and fought and deserved to win the game. But we've got to come back with two great practices and we've got to play a lot closer to 40 minutes Wednesday night like we did the last 15 minutes tonight. If we can do that then I think we've got a chance to compete in all these games the rest of the way."

Vincennes will hit the road next week then they face-off against Kaskaskia College in Centralia, Ill. Wednesday, Jan. 26. Tip-off time is set for 8 p.m. eastern.

"I don't think there is a whole lot strategically that we need to do differently," Franklin said about VU going to Kaskaskia after the Blue Devils won by eight at the P.E. Complex earlier this week. "We had a pretty good idea going into the game what we needed to do and there weren't a lot of surprises. We just didn't play with enough snap, intensity or competitiveness. I think strategically we probably know what we need to do. We've done it long enough that we have a pretty good idea. I think we are prepared for most things now. Now it's about taking it and gritting our teeth and getting really committed to pushing it over that edge toward getting it done."

"We'll see if the guys come into the game Wednesday with the tenacity of saying 'we didn't play well enough last time' and take it personally," Franklin added. "That's what I would like to see. That's the thing that I've been trying to get over the top here and I think that's the thing that I think is going to separate us. It happened tonight in the last 15 minutes, when we get to be more competitive and play with more intensity conveniently the ball goes in more. That's what I want to see. I want to see it next Wednesday. I want to see it next Saturday. I want to see it the rest of the way and there is really no reason at this stage not to."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (61): Thow James Biel 4-8 0-0 8, Shilo Jackson 4-7 0-1 8, Trenton Johnson 6-23 4-4 18, Brevin Jefferson 3-10 4-4 12, Darrius Davis 1-1 2-2 4, Ketaan Wyatt 3-5 0-0 8, Devawn White 0-0 0-0 0, Grant Brown 1-2 0-0 3, Deatrick Pashell 0-0 0-0 0, Team 22-56 10-11 61.

Lewis & Clark – 38  21 – 59

VU (7-13, 4-5) – 27  34 – 61

Three-point goals: VU 7 (Johnson 2, Jefferson 2, Wyatt 2, Brown). Rebounds: VU 35 (James Biel 11). Assists: VU 16 (Jefferson 10). Steals: VU 6 (Davis 3). Blocked shots: VU 2 (Jackson 2). Turnovers: VU 14. Personal Fouls: VU 14. Fouled out: None. Technical Fouls: Franklin – 2 – 7:28.