MOBERLY, Mo. – The No. 5-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers faced their first game away from the Physical Education Complex this season and were able to come away with a 78-69 victory over State Fair Community College at the Moberly Area C.C. Thanksgiving Classic.
Vincennes got off to a slow start Friday afternoon, turning the ball over four times in the first four minutes of the game and found themselves facing a 16-12 deficit midway through the first half.
VU would score five unanswered to grab the lead back at 19-18, one of 11 lead changes during the opening half of play.
The two teams continued to battle, with VU looking to grab the momentum with an open dunk by freshman Damarien Yates (Somerville, Tenn.) and freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) connecting on three of three from the free throw line to give the Blazers a 35-30 advantage.
The Roadrunners answered back before the half, cutting the deficit to two and heading into the halftime break trailing Vincennes 38-36.
State Fair continued to ride this momentum in the second half, taking the lead back at 49-48.
The lead changed hands eight times in under five minutes before VU looked to take control with a 6-0 scoring run to lead 67-61.
State Fair again would answer back, cutting the lead back down to two, but were unable to take the lead back as VU closed out the game to pick up the 78-69 victory.
"At the end of the day, we were a little bit more efficient offensively than they were," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "I think that if you look at both teams, when you look at shooting the ball and putting the ball into the basket, lack of turnovers, hitting threes, it was a high quality game. I tip my hat to State Fair. I thought State Fair played the heck out of it today."
"When you look at the shooting numbers, they were 25 of 48, 8 of 18 from three and 11 of 14 from the free throw line," Franklin added. "They had 11 turnovers. We got a few as the game went along. I thought they played really well. I thought they made us pay."
"I thought the key to the game though, when we couldn't get away from them enough, was we let Alex Gunnels have," Franklin said. "Because at the end of the day, you can't have the secondary guys go to the thing that they do and that really bothered me on that sideline. We knew he was going to drive it right. He had the one bank in three, those things happen, but he had about four or five layups going to his right, right from the top where we did not follow the assignment. If you follow the assignment on him, he's not going to get that and he ends up with 19 points."
"When you are playing somebody that is play well like they did and you have to dig the game out, it's hard enough when their good players are going, which they were," Franklin added. "But you can't let the secondary guy beat you. Particularly to the one thing you know in the scouting report, that's what he's going to do. That's a lesson we are going to have to learn. We are going to get tougher minded about those things."
"But I thought, other than that, we didn't finish on two situations when we went to the foul line when I thought we were about to extend the lead and get it to eight or 10," Franklin said. "We played fine because we got to the line on two different trips and we went 0 for 4. We missed one front end of a bonus and two free throws, out of four points we got none. Then the next trip down we had a point blank shot and then a tip-in at point blank and it ended up being knocked out and being a bucket going the other way. So out of three possessions when we had all free throws and layups, we ended up with no points and they ended up with a layup."
"But we made the plays," Franklin added. "When you look at our numbers, we're 27 of 52 and nine of 16 from three and I don't think we took a bad one. We were patient. Sometimes almost too patient and weren't ready a few catches. But we were patient. We found the shooters and were able to get a quality, balanced shot up and guys made them. 15 of 23 on free throws, we'd like to get a little better from the line. We only had 10 turnovers. We had a few tentative, sloppy ones in the first half that gave them a little courage. But we only ended with 10 for the game."
"At the end of the day, you tip your hat to State Fair," Franklin said. "I don't know if they will play like this every day or not. But if they play like this, they are going to win a lot of ball games. They were a plenty good enough team today to give most people a run for their money. Because we shot it and handled it and didn't turn the ball over. Whether it was pretty or not, at the end of the day, those things we did well enough and we needed to to get this win."
The Trailblazers were led offensively by Lebron Thomas, who scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the first half, while also dishing out five assists on the night.
Sophomore Kris King (Washington, D.C.) picked up the scoring in the second half, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the final 20 minutes of play, including hitting three of three from behind the three-point arc.
Sophomore Karyiek Dixon (Enfield, London, UK) finished his night with 12 points, six rebounds and a team-high four blocks defensively.
Sophomore Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) was the fourth Vincennes scorer in double-figures, ending with 10 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Freshman Mathieu Nader-Kalombo (Longueuil, Quebec) also helped get the VU scoring going in the first half, connecting on three of four from behind the arc for nine points on the night.
Sophomore Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) battled foul trouble in the first half and came back with a strong second half to finish with eight points and nine rebounds.
"I thought we shot it," Franklin said. "And the guys that shot it, shot it pretty well. It was on and off, up and down, good and bad. It's hard to say that somebody sustained it all night. I didn't think Kris had a great first half but in the second half he stepped up and played big. Karyiek had moments and some moments not so much. Michael was the same way. So I thought it was across the board like that."
"I thought Mathieu gave us some good minutes in the first half when we needed it," Franklin added. "But I thought most guys, as far as shooting the ball, were pretty good. Ryan didn't want to shoot the ball as much as he should have and then finally before the last time we sent him in, we were all over him to be ready and then one time it swings and he busted it. There's no coincidence to that. We didn't take bad shots. I didn't think we forced anything. I thought as a group, collectively, we tried to break that zone down and offensively we were pretty good."
"Defensively, eh, but they played really well," Franklin said. "At the end of the day you have to tip your hat to the other team sometimes and State Fair, I thought, was really good tonight. We may have helped them on some things, but I thought other than Gunnels, there were just individual breakdowns here and there. But they made us pay. Every time we relaxed a little, things that you might not have paid for other times, we paid for tonight."
"I thought we overall did what we had to do," Franklin added. "Gutted it out. Kris King shot the ball in the second half and we made some big shots with different guys doing it. I thought Karyiek did some good things defensively late that were key. Michael got on the boards pretty good and cleared the glass when we had to. So it was a collective and I thought that Kris in the second half was probably the offensive spark that we needed to get over the top. He made the big shots when we had to make them right when the game is hanging in the balance and had a couple of big drives against the zone when it opened up. But this was a good gut-check win."
The Trailblazers will face another tough test tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 25 when VU faces No. 12 Moberly Area Community College in the final game of the MACC Thanksgiving Classic at 8 p.m. eastern.
This will be the third straight Saturday the Trailblazers have faced a team ranked in the top-25 after facing Monroe College and Indian Hills the past two Saturdays.
"I just hope we ratchet up the intensity on defense and we follow the game plan," Franklin said. "I thought like, on Gunnels, that we broke the game plan tonight and it almost cost us the ball game. Those things are important and hopefully they have learned that now."
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (78): Kris King 4-5 3-4 14, Kent King 1-6 2-2 5, Lebron Thomas 5-12 5-5 16, Michael Osei-Bonsu 4-7 0-0 8, Karyiek Dixon 4-10 4-7 12, Damarien Yates 2-2 0-0 4, Mathieu Nader-Kalombo 3-4 0-1 9, Alphonse Muteba 0-0 0-2 0, Ryan Oliver 4-6 1-2 10, Team 27-52 15-23 78.
State Fair – 36 33 – 69
VU (8-0) – 38 40 – 78
Three-point goals: VU 9 (Kr. King 3, Nader-Kalombo 3, Ke. King, L. Thomas, Oliver). Rebounds: VU 29 (Osei-Bonsu 9). Assists: VU 23 (Ke. King 6). Steals: VU 6 (Kr. King 2). Blocked shots: VU 7 (Dixon 4). Turnovers: VU 10. Personal Fouls: VU 14. Fouled out: None.