VINCENNES, Ind. – The VU Trailblazers picked up a late addition to their schedule in Indiana Elite Prep Wednesday night and Vincennes came away with a big 30-point win over the Wolves 74-44.
VU freshman Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) finished off his second double-double of his young Trailblazer career with a team-high 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Vincennes got their offense rolling early as freshman Thow James Biel (Calgary, Alberta) helped the Blazers grow a 19-7 lead midway through the first half.
James Biel and Jackson would continue to control the paint offensively throughout the first half as Vincennes went into the locker room holding a 36-19 advantage on the scoreboard.
Indiana Elite Prep tried to fight back, but every comeback attempt was met with another VU scoring run to expand on their growing lead.
The Trailblazers reached their biggest lead of the night late in the second half, growing the margin to 35 points before the Wolves cut the lead back down to the eventual final score of 74-44.
"We played a little up and down tonight. There were some good things, there were some bad things," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "I thought the one area I thought was good was we were looking inside. We made more of a concerted effort to get the ball in there and that's something that we are going to have to do."
"I thought we played a little more inside-out, we still didn't make the shots when we went inside-out but it's the beginning," Franklin added. "Our turnovers weren't quite as high tonight. They are still not where they need to be but there was some improvement there. There will have to be a big improvement there this weekend."
"This was just another step for this team. I'm still talking to guys about not running back on defense, guys are back-peddling. There are a lot of elementary things that we are discussing on that sideline right now, it's not really advanced at the moment. But if we just do the simple things hard I think we've got a chance to win some games. We had a chance to win against Columbia State last weekend, which would have been a really good win for us and I think we will see if we play hard enough to give us another chance to get one against East Mississippi. I think we can have a chance to win, but we have to do all the little things right."
Shilo Jackson led the Blazers offensively and defensively in the paint. The 6-foot-9 freshman used his size advantage to lead VU with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Freshman Darrius Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) came off the bench to end his night with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Thow James Biel was the third VU scorer to reach double-figures, finishing with 11 points and six rebounds.
Sophomore Deatrick Pashell (Orlando, Fla.) just missed a double-double off the bench, ending with nine points and eight rebounds.
Freshman Devawn White (Montreal, Quebec) got his first start of his VU career and finished with seven points and five rebounds for the Blazers.
"We're getting there," Franklin said of his post players. "There are good moments and then there are moments where we're leaving things on the table. We'll see what they learn from this. We've got to get Thow a little tougher on his finishes and I think he can be. He's not going to be the most physical guy, but just a little bit more toughness, a little bit more pop through the contact and he can get buckets. I think it's there and we need it."
"Shilo started the game, we kept trying to get him going, trying to be ready to score when the ball hits your hands. Go up and go up powerful and I think he's still learning to be that guy. He's never been that guy in his life, we're asking a guy who has kind of come out of nowhere, grew fast, never really was the scorer. He has all the ability to do it, but this is not a guy who has done it before. So, we're having to reshape his mentality on the fly right now. We can see those things happening, where his learning and we're trying to win games against some really good teams. It's a battle, but he obviously has potential, there's no question."
"I thought Devawn gave us some good minutes," Franklin added. "He kind of goes for a couple of minutes then he loses himself mentally when he gets a little fatigued. We've talked about that, trying to get these young guys to push through that. But in his first couple of minutes, every time he came in on his rotations he was active at chasing the ball and doing good things. You can see the possibilities he gives us."
"We're just battling right now. Offensively it's still a grind when we shoot 3 for 18 from three. I didn't think those were bad threes, just at some point in time we have to make seven or eight of those 18. That's just working at it," Franklin said.
The Trailblazers will have one day to rest and recover before they get set to host the first annual McDonald's Classic at the P.E. Complex Friday, Nov. 12 and Saturday, Nov. 13.
Vincennes will take on East Mississippi Community College from Scooba, Miss. Friday at 7 p.m. and conclude the weekend by facing No. 18 Northeast Mississippi Saturday night at 7 p.m. eastern.
VU will also welcome No. 3 John A. Logan as the fourth team in the McDonald's Classic. The Volunteers will play at 5 p.m. eastern Friday and Saturday.
"Our guys need to go home and watch the game film, listen to the things that we've told them and start to see what we're saying to them," Franklin said. "They're getting enough touch and feel for what is going on, that now you can know what I'm talking about. Then you go home and look at it and make a mental note and say I'm going to come out and do better today, that's exactly what he's saying and I need to do that. I'm looking for that."
"I'm looking for those things every day," Franklin added. "We don't have any days to waste. We've got to be locked in better tomorrow and bring those things that we're talking about better tomorrow than we did today and we have to try to win while we're learning. How fast we can move to that, like if we were a little more advanced than where we were last Friday night, we would have beaten Columbia State, so we'll see if that's true this weekend. Hopefully we've advanced enough on the fly that on game night we find a way. Instead of being a close hard-fought loss, this time hopefully we can get a tough hard-fought win against a really good team. It's a fine line and hopefully we're there to do it."
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (74): Thow James Biel 5-13 0-0 11, Shilo Jackson 8-12 5-8 21, Trenton Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, Devawn White 3-5 1-2 7, Brevin Jefferson 2-6 2-4 6, Ketaan Wyatt 2-5 0-2 5, Marcus Clarke-Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Darrius Davis 6-13 0-0 13, Torrence Gillis 0-0 0-0 0, Grant Brown 0-0 0-1 0, Deatrick Pashell 4-6 1-2 9, Team 31-63 9-19 74.
Indiana Elite Prep – 19 25 – 44
Vincennes (2-2) – 36 38 – 74
Three-point goals: VU 3 (James Biel, Wyatt, Davis). Rebounds: VU 48 (Jackson 12). Assists: VU 15 (Brown 4). Steals: VU (7 (Davis 2). Blocked Shots: VU 2 (Jackson, Johnson). Turnovers: VU 13. Personal Fouls: VU 16. Fouled out: None.
