No. 15 Trailblazers advance after opening round win over No. 18 Trinity Valley

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The No. 15 seed Vincennes University Trailblazers began their NJCAA record 37th trip to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament off Monday afternoon with an opening round 70-57 win over No. 18 seed Trinity Valley.

The Trailblazers got off to an impressive start on the defensive end, but struggled on the offensive end of the floor early.

VU held the Cardinals without a made basket for the first eight and a half minutes of the game Monday, with Trinity Valley only able to get some points at the free throw line early.

Vincennes would use this defensive stand to open up an early six-point lead at 14-8 midway through the opening period.

Trinity Valley would finally get going offensively and answered back with a 7-0 scoring run to take the lead.

VU responded back with a 6-0 run to regain the lead and would hold onto this lead for the remainder of the game.

The Blazers closed out the first half strong and went into the locker room holding a 24-19 advantage over the Mid-South District Champions.

Vincennes would come out of the locker room looking to expand on this first half lead and would grow their lead to 11 points at 46-35 early in the second half.

VU would later use a 7-0 scoring run to build a 20-point advantage over Trinity Valley, the largest lead of the game.

Trinity Valley would look to hit some shots late and battle their way back into the game before the Trailblazers closed out the game at the free throw line, hitting 14 of their 16 shots from the line in the second half to come away with the opening round 70-57 win.

"Defensively we were pretty spot on most of the game," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "Of course, they helped by missing some shots. Anytime you are shutting guys down at this level that way, they are helping you some. But when we are getting down, focused in and locked in, we're a pretty good defensive team and I thought we showed that. I thought we also showed that we are a really good rebounding team."

"We outrebounded them by 20 rebounds today," Franklin added. "Anytime you do that, especially a Texas team, at the National Tournament and get 17 offensive rebounds, for one it means that you missed some shots, but you still went and got them. That's a trait for us, that's not an accident. That's who we are. When we make some shots, which we are capable of doing, we are really hard to deal with. We didn't do that most of the night, but we made enough and hopefully tomorrow we will get relaxed and confident. Plus, we just played for the first time in a week and a half. Which is hard to do no matter when you do it."

"You travel out here, your schedule gets a little off from normal," Franklin said. "It's the first game. There are some obvious jitters and you are playing a good team. So, it's not unusual. When we won in 2019, first day Keith Clemons completely whiffed. Then he got his legs under him and he was good from that point on. That's a normal thing coming out here and you hope it doesn't happen but if it does, you hope to find a way through it. We did today. We'll see tomorrow if we can come out with some real bounce and stick the ball in the basket."

"But we did a lot of good things today too," Franklin added. "When you only have nine turnovers at this level and you have a plus-20 rebounding advantage, you hold the team down to 57 points and a lot of those were late, it's a pretty good effort. You can't complain about that. You beat a Texas District Champion. Those are all good things on a Monday."

VU was led offensively by sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) who overcame an early slow start to lead the Blazers with 19 points, while also adding six rebounds and a pair of assists.

Sophomore Tasos Cook (Columbus, Ohio) got the scoring going early, leading the Blazers with seven points at the half and finishing the game with 15. Cook also helped control the boards, ending with seven rebounds and dished out four assists on the day.

Freshman Kris King (Washington, D.C.) came off the bench and played some big minutes in the second half to help put the game away, finishing with 15 points, all coming in the second half, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Freshman Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) also had a difficult time scoring in the first half, but was able to get on the board in the second half and finish with eight points and eight rebounds.

"Michael stepped up late after missing some easy shots," Franklin said. "He got some good offensive rebounds but missed some easy shots, then he got into foul trouble. I thought he was a little tight. He was tight early. His body wasn't moving very good because he was tight and he got a couple of fouls. But he got some things done late, which is important for us. He got some buckets late and he hit some free throws, which is great. Hopefully he got through the first half things that go bad and now he'll be ready to go for tomorrow night."

"Ryan did some good things," Franklin added. "I just think Ryan has to get more confident and prepared on his shot because the opportunities were there. I think they are going to be there if we work hard and people try to take away what they perceive as our strengths. Somebody has got to hit those shots and Ryan is a candidate, but he's got to be ready."

"Caleb has got to be ready," Franklin said. "He finally shot one later in the game when he was ready on the catch on an inside-out and in not such a coincidence, he stroked it. It's really that simple. But it's hard. These things are really difficult. That's why it's hard to be a champion. That's why the most any school has ever won at this level is four National Championships. It's incredibly hard. These guys have had a great season, we've done great things and we are going to have to go over that final hump, but I think if we get over that final hump and guys like Kris King and Caleb Johnson have got to be key."

"Shilo has got to step up," Franklin added. "Shilo, I thought, did step up in the Region finals and he kind of regressed today. He's got to go look in the mirror tonight and say 'this is who I can be, this is who I am' and we need him tomorrow. Tasos did some good things but we are going to need him to finish that thing off. All of that to get over this last little hump and we've got this week to get it done. But I believe we can and if we do, everything is out there for this team. It's going to be a tremendous effort tomorrow night."

"Southern Idaho has obviously been one of the two best teams all year," Franklin said. "They were No. 1 pretty much the whole year. I thought Logan was playing like it from December on and have now past them to be the No. 1 seed because Southern Idaho finally lost a game late to go 29-1. But we are now well versed in playing the top-two teams in the country after tomorrow night. But I think our team has got every chance tomorrow night. I am hoping that today, as it is on many of these runs, getting through that first day, you've just got to find a way. It wasn't luck. We defended well. We rebounded well. We didn't turn the ball over and as the game went along, we got a little more confidence going offensively. So, there is no luck in that victory. It just wasn't always pretty because we just didn't shoot it or finish it great. But if we can add that component tomorrow to the others, then I think we have a chance to get a big win and be around here until Thursday when it gets down to the quarterfinals."

VU now advances to the Round of 16, where they will face off against No. 2 seed College of Southern Idaho, Tuesday, March 21. This game will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. eastern.

"We've been racing that clock all year," Franklin said about his team getting their first experiences at the National Tournament. "We've just been trying to learn on the fly. That's just what this team is. It doesn't have the guys that have gotten it done and have gone to Hutch before and have been through these things. We don't have that. So, we've put together a heck of a year while learning. But the key to us getting across that line is have we learned enough. Then, if we have learned enough, we have to apply it and now's the time where we have to apply it."

"I think we've been through a lot of things as a team," Franklin added. "I think we've seen a very high level of competition. I think our District is tremendously disrespected. You come out here and watch these teams that are here, it's tremendously disrespected. Our team has seen a high level of competition and has been through some things and we've been successful most all of the time and when we've come up short it's because we haven't been through it before against the good teams or in some bad situations."

"We don't have any bad losses this year," Franklin said. "Our five losses are all in games where pretty much everybody else is going to lose too and we've taken No. 1 to the mat. We lost at SWIC but came back and beat them the next two times we faced them. We lost at Wabash Valley on sophomore day and they are really talented. They are comparable talent-wise to the guys that we are seeing out here. So, the times we've fallen short, we've been right there. We've been right there and if we can learn to get over that last hump that's where we are at. Tomorrow we will see if we've accumulated enough that we can then use that and if we've hardened up enough, got grizzled enough that we can punch through. We'll need it tomorrow night, but if we can take that next step, I believe we have a chance to get this thing done."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (70): Tasos Cook 6-13 1-1 15, Trenton Johnson 1-4 0-0 3, Caleb Johnson 7-13 4-5 19, Michael Osei-Bonsu 3-7 2-2 8, Shilo Jackson 0-2 2-2 2, Devawn White 0-1 0-0 0, Kris King 4-9 7-8 15, Ryan Oliver 2-6 0-0 4, Kent King 1-6 1-2 4, Victor Lado 0-0 0-0 0, Karyiek Dixon 0-0 0-0 0, Team 24-61 17-20 70.

Trinity Valley – 19   38 – 57

VU (29-5, 16-5) – 24   46 – 70

Three-point goals: VU 5 (Cook 2, T. Johnson, Ke. King, C. Johnson). Rebounds: VU 46 (Kr. King 8, Osei-Bonsu 8, Jackson 8). Assists: VU 17 (Cook 4, Oliver 4). Steals: VU 6 (Kr. King 2, Jackson 2). Blocked Shots: VU 5 (Cook 2). Turnovers: VU 8. Personal Fouls: VU 21. Fouled out: Cook.