VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University men's basketball team completed the back end of a back-to-back weekend against NJCAA Top-25 teams Saturday against No. 20 Harcum College.
The Trailblazers fell for the second time this season as the Bears came away with an 87-61 victory.
Vincennes freshman Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) controlled the glass all game for the Blazers as he finished with his second double-double in three games, ending with 12 points and a staggering 17 rebounds.
VU fell behind early as Harcum opened the game on an 11-0 scoring run. The Blazers were able to recover and narrow the margin to six points midway through the first half.
The Bears would extend their lead to 20 points after a 14-0 scoring run by Harcum made the score 34-14.
Vincennes would cut into the margin by halftime but were only able to take five points off the Harcum lead as the Bears went into the break leading 50-35.
VU continued to chip away at the deficit early in the second half, getting the lead back to single digits before Harcum again used a large scoring run to take a 60-41 lead.
Vincennes continued to grind with the Bears but fell into a battle of trading baskets late as Harcum pulled away late to pick up the 87-61 victory in the final game of the 2021 Kiwanis Classic.
"We came out and got hit with a punch and didn't respond as much as we would like," VU Hall of Fame head coach Todd Franklin said. "I thought there were some good responses later on. For digging ourselves a big hole, we were able to come back and get into some pretty competitive situations."
"I think the game was much more competitive than what the final score shows because I felt like there were long stretches where we won," Franklin added. "We got down 22 in the first half, then I thought from that point until about 10 minutes left in the game we outscored them by about 12 or 14 and I thought we were outplaying them. It slipped away from us late but I think there were things in the game where you can see the potential."
Jackson led the Blazers in scoring along with fellow freshman Thow James Biel (Calgary, Alberta) who each ended with 12 points.
Along with Jackson's game-high 17 rebounds, he also finished his night with an impressive five blocks for the Blazers.
James Biel ended the game with three rebounds and a pair of assists.
Freshmen Trenton Johnson (South Bend, Ind.), Ketaan Wyatt (Toledo, Ohio) and Darrius Davis (Pittsburgh, PA) all narrowly missed reaching double-figures in the points column.
Johnson finished the game with nine points and five rebounds, while Wyatt and Davis finished with eight points, with Wyatt adding five rebounds as well.
"Shilo played like a freshman early, tentative and scared but he figured out as we went along 'I can be successful against these guys'," Franklin said. "It's what we're trying to preach, if you do what you're supposed to do you can be successful."
"I thought most of the guys on the team had pockets in the game where that was true and I think they can take away from that 'if we do what we're supposed to do and do it with full intensity and competitively we can be good'," Franklin added. "And if we're not good, if we get in the gym and really work hard, we really could be good."
"If we can get everybody together and do it I think there's some things you saw tonight, Shilo's going to be a good play, Thow will be a good player and you go down the list, there are opportunities. We'll see where we stack up with Harcum if we see them in three months and if my guys stay healthy, if my guys buy in, which I can see a little bit of that, I was very encouraged by the pockets in this game. Obviously we don't like the final score, but right now we're not a Top-20 basketball team. We're not a team that is going to the Final Four, right now. But what we are is a team, when we do those things right against teams that are in that position, we can be successful. We're a young bunch who can grow into about anything if we work hard enough."
The Trailblazers had a late addition to their schedule for next week as VU will host Indiana Elite Prep Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. eastern at the P.E. Complex.
Vincennes will conclude next week by hosting the first annual McDonald's Classic Friday, Nov. 12 and Saturday, Nov. 13.
VU will play East Mississippi Community College from Scooba, Miss. Friday, followed by Northeast Mississippi Community College from Booneville, Miss. Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. both days.
"Mostly this is about us, we had one game to fill, I thought it would be good for us to get a game," Franklin said. "We have such a horrific stretch of tough games here and I think if we handle it right, it will be good for us. We may not have the prettiest record and at the end we may have to win the Region tournament to go to Hutch, but that's alright. Right now, we have to get good enough to where we can."
"It's good to get the game against Indiana Elite, so I hope people come out and I hope we play better. I hope we have two good days of practice, we play well in that game and it leads us into the weekend," Franklin added. "We're going to get the same opportunities next weekend that we did this weekend against two really good teams. Two teams that are probably further down the road than we are. Two teams that have high aspirations to play at Hutch, one is the favorite where they're from, the other is probably top-three and they will be hungry to beat us."
VINCENNES STATS
Vincennes (61): Thow James Biel – 5-15 1-3 12, Shilo Jackson 5-9 2-5 12, Trenton Johnson 2-7 3-4 9, Ketaan Wyatt 4-13 0-0 8, Brevin Jefferson 2-6 1-2 6, Devawn White 2-6 0-0 4, Darrius Davis 3-6 2-4 8, Grant Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Deatrick Pashell 1-3 0-0 2, Team 24-65 9-18 61.
Harcum 50 37 – 87
VU (1-2) 35 26 – 61
Three-point goals: VU 4, (Johnson 2, James Biel, Jefferson), Rebounds: VU 42 (Jackson 17), Assists: VU 11 (Wyatt 4), Steals: VU 2 (James Biel, Wyatt), Blocked Shots: VU 6 (Jackson 5), Turnovers: VU 26, Personal Fouls: VU 27, Fouled out: Pashell, Technical Fouls: Pashell (1 – 4:07).
