Late comeback attempt falls short as No. 18 Trailblazers drop road game

BELLEVILLE, Ill. – The No. 18 Vincennes University Trailblazers played from behind most of the game against Southwestern Illinois Saturday night, but managed to climb all the way back to take the lead with under five minutes to play.

The Trailblazer lead was short lived as VU fell on the road to Southwestern Illinois 69-60.

Vincennes got into foul trouble early in the first half, forcing the Trailblazers to play without freshman guard Brandon Muntu and sophomore forward Christian Wells for a majority of the opening half.

Sophomore DJ Brewton stepped in and took over running the VU offense on his way to scoring eight of the Trailblazers' 25 first half points.

The second half saw the Trailblazers look to erase their nine point halftime deficit as early threes from Brandon Muntu, DJ Brewton and Randy Tucker seemed help fire up the VU sideline.

Vincennes would climb all the way back to take a 56-55 lead with 4:46 to play on clutch free throws from Muntu.

Southwestern Illinois would respond however and defend their home court accordingly. Finishing the game on a 14-4 scoring run to give Vincennes their fourth loss of the season.

DJ Brewton led the Trailblazers with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists off the bench.

Fellow sophomore Randy Tucker finished in double-figures with 12 points and eight rebounds as well.

Christian Wells and Brandon Muntu each managed to score eight points, while sitting most of the first half. With Wells adding seven rebounds and Muntu swiping a pair of steals.

The Trailblazers will look to bounce back next Wednesday, March 3, as they hit the road again, this time taking on Wabash Valley in Mt. Carmel. This game will be the second-half of a basketball double-header, with tip-off scheduled for 8:30 p.m. eastern.