Early scoring run leads to big win for No. 5 Trailblazers at Wabash Valley

MT. CARMEL, Ill. – The No. 5-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers appear to be rounding into form as of late and Saturday night's 78-51 victory at Wabash Valley College was no exception.

The Trailblazers jumped on the host Warriors early with the help of a 16-1 scoring run and were able to cruise through the second half to pick up the 27-point victory.

VU got off to a fast start Saturday night at Wabash Valley, working the ball inside and finding open outside shots to put together a 16-1 scoring run to jump out to a big 20-6 lead over the Warriors early in the first half.

Wabash Valley would answer back however on their home floor, using an 8-2 scoring run to cut the VU lead down to eight at 22-14.

Vincennes would get the lead back to double digits before adding on even more before halftime with the help of a 12-0 scoring run to close out the first half of play.

VU headed into the locker room on a high note after freshman Gerard Thomas (Henderson, Ky.) connected on a three at the buzzer to send the Blazers into the halftime break holding a 44-22 lead over the Warriors.

Vincennes would continue to add early in the second half, outscoring Wabash Valley 15-6 to grow the lead to 59-33.

After the two teams traded baskets through the middle part of the second half, VU would effectively put the game away with the help of an 8-0 scoring run, giving VU their largest lead of the night at 76-47.

Wabash Valley would score a basket late but the Blazers were more than able to run the rest of the game clock down as VU capped off their 26th victory of the season by the final score of 78-51.

"Early on I thought we were hurting them inside," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "I thought Karyiek was much more positive on the block early in the game and he was most of the time tonight when he was in the game. He missed a couple of bunnies or he could have really had a big night. But as they started playing some zone, he was playing the four and was extended out a little bit, so he didn't get as many looks around the basket. I thought when he was down there throughout the game, he was efficient."

"I thought Kent King gave us some really good stuff off the bench throughout the game," Franklin added. "I thought our intensity was good enough but we can go to another gear. I mean that. All year long, when we're winning at a pretty good rate and I wasn't overly happy, everybody thought I was crazy or mean. No, I know what I'm looking at and I know what we've got in us."

"It's the same thing right now," Franklin said. "We've got a real chance to play National Championship level basketball. We're getting closer. We've turned the corner and have started developing and have really been that type of team since we came back from Logan and had to look in the mirror. All of the year's work comes together at that moment but you've got to clinch your jaw and push through it."

"I thought you could see that in spots out there tonight," Franklin added. "That's why we were able to get ahead and stay ahead of them. I thought our energy was pretty good. Again, it could be better. We're still having a hard time getting five guys on the floor all playing well at the same time. But we are going to keep striving to do it because when we do it, we're going to be a really dangerous ball club."

"We did good things," Franklin said. "I thought we shared the ball. We got a little bit loose with it a few times but other than that I thought we were pretty good. We took them out of the man-to-man early. They couldn't match up inside and we were swinging the ball, breaking them down and then we were able to get them sealed in the post. It was going to be really tough for them to deal with that so they went to a zone, which we've seen over and over. I thought we were pretty good against it. We got a little stale at times but we could get an open shot in the corner when we wanted it."

"We've got to hit the gaps a little better," Franklin added. "When we did hit the gaps, we got good things. When we didn't, we got a little passive and playing sideways. But for the most part we were pretty good. We didn't give them any transitions. They got almost no transition buckets which is a big thing for us no matter who we play. But particularly Wabash and at their place, I thought that was a big deal. Things like that, that the normal person sitting around watching the game might not understand how valuable that is. But when they've got to go against our set defense every time, it's tough. I thought Wabash Valley missed a few shots tonight but I thought our defense was pretty good. Our rebounding, for the most part, was pretty good. We got a little sloppy in the middle of the first half and kept them alive a little bit with some offensive rebounds."

"But I thought everybody that played, played hard," Franklin said. "I thought our energy was good. I thought our energy on the bench for the most part was good. I thought our team energy was good. But now we're looking to go from good to great. Winning National Championships is great. Obviously that's where we're headed. That's what we want. That's what we need. So tonight was a good performance I thought in all aspects. But we're going to try and take it up another notch from there."

VU was led offensively by sophomore Kent King (Washington, D.C.) who came off the bench and connected early and often from behind the three-point arc, ending his night with five made threes and setting a new career-high with 20 points on the night.

Sophomores Karyiek Dixon (Enfield, London, UK) and Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) controlled the inside game for most of the night with Dixon finishing off a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, his fifth career double-double, while Osei-Bonsu just missed out on a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Dixon would also help move the ball in the Trailblazer offense ending with five assists to go along with five assists from Kent King and a team-high six assists by freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.).

The Trailblazers assisted on 26 of their 29 made baskets Saturday night, moving the ball very well as a team offensively.

"The numbers are adding up and they've been adding up since we got back from Logan, much more like we think they should," Franklin said. "I don't want to sound bad when I say it but they do. We feel like if we play in a positive way that we want to and I got upset tonight with our inside guys, particularly Mike because he was turning down plays in the lane. Trying to throw passes across the court instead of just catching it, chinning it and scoring. But I thought we were positive for the most part."

"When we do it, we feel like we can hold people down defensively," Franklin added. "We think that we can score at a good percentage. We think we can get on the offensive glass. We think we can hurt you inside. We think we can hurt you outside. We haven't shown it all year long that we were that great outside but we can do that and that's coming. You are seeing it more all the time and it's not a coincidence. It's happening because we're playing with more pop and snap and more positive action in it."

"When I get upset on the sideline, I'm upset because we're not attacking that thing with that positive action that we talk about," Franklin said. "I don't want any of them to play tentative. That's when I get upset. They all know their job and they should attack their job in the most positive fashion and let the chips fall where they may. But when we don't do that, that's when I'm not happy. Because you can't win a National Title without putting two hours of that all the time. There's no other way of getting that."

"That's what we demand and we're still learning," Franklin added. "But I thought we saw more of that tonight than we did before and we're playing better. But we're not going to love how we started the second half tonight. We're not going to love the times out there when we got sloppy with the ball and playing sideways. We know better than that and almost all of our turnovers or bad plays started when we were playing tentative and sideways, not being aggressive in the way that we talk about and our team has just got to keep learning. I've got to keep reinforcing that. But our message, contrary to what other people may think, is very positive. It's a very attack, here's what it is and go after it message and we get unhappy when they don't. I think our guys are starting to figure it out but we're still learning and hopefully we will be better Tuesday."

Vincennes has officially clinched at least a tie of the 2023-24 Region 24 regular season title and will look to win it outright and clinch the No. 1 seed in the 2024 Region 24/Central District Championship tournament when VU next hits the floor Tuesday, March 5 at the Physical Education Complex.

Vincennes will play host to Kaskaskia College Tuesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. eastern.

VU defeated the Blue Devils 72-52 earlier this season in Centralia behind 18 points by Michael Osei-Bonsu and 16 points by Lebron Thomas.

"We've gotten better these last few weeks and we want to be even better by Tuesday," Franklin said. "What better scenario is there than playing at home on Sophomore Night. We've clinched a tie for first in the regular season District race tonight and then we're going for the outright Tuesday night at home on Sophomore Night. With a bunch of guys who have gone to the Elite Eight and won 30 games as freshman and are now 26 wins into this season. Top five in the country. What's better than that?"

"I don't know how much more we have to do to get to Hutch," Franklin added. "But I would think with a win Tuesday, I don't know how don't go. We're going to end the regular season top five in the country with a resume that probably looks even better when you start to look at our metrics that we've done. How do you not get in. I don't think it's possible to not get in at that point."

"We've got all of those things going on Tuesday night," Franklin said. "I hope that everybody comes out cheered like heck. It's my job to keep pushing this team to get over the hump and let everybody else cheer the heck out of them. But you can't have a better scenario for this group to come out on sophomore night and have the things that we are playing for on display. Hopefully we'll play the way that I think we can and expect that we will."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (78): Damarien Yates 0-4 0-0 0, Ryan Oliver 1-4 0-0 3, Lebron Thomas 2-6 2-2 7, Michael Osei-Bonsu 6-6 3-6 15, Karyiek Dixon 7-11 2-2 17, Gerard Thomas 2-6 0-0 6, Mathieu Nader-Kalombo 0-0 0-0 0, Alphonse Muteba 0-0 0-0 0, Kris King 3-6 0-0 6, Kent King 7-16 1-1 20, Victor Lado 1-1 2-2 4, Vilhelm Bodingh 0-0 0-0 0, Team 29-60 10-13 78.

VU (26-3, 13-2) – 44   34 – 78

Wabash Valley – 22   29 – 51

Three-point goals: VU 10 (Ke. King 5, G. Thomas 2, Oliver, L. Thomas, Dixon). Rebounds: VU 46 (Dixon 10). Assists: VU 26 (L. Thomas 6). Steals: VU 3 (L. Thomas, Osei-Bonsu, Ke. King). Blocked Shots: VU 1 (Ke. King). Turnovers: VU 13. Personal Fouls: VU 19. Fouled out: None. Technical Foul: VU Kr. King (1 – 10:50).