Thomas scores 31 as No. 8 Trailblazers win first-place battle with Olney Central

VINCENNES, Ind. – Vincennes University freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) came through for the Blazers when they needed him the most Saturday night, hitting 11 of 12 second half free throws to help the No. 8-ranked VU Trailblazers pick up an 87-79 victory over Olney Central College.

With this win, the Trailblazers now move in front of the Blue Knights, gaining a half-game lead over Olney Central for the top spot in the Region 24 standings.

The Trailblazers were also without Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin Saturday night, who was serving a one game suspension after being ejected from Wednesday night's win over Southwestern Illinois.

Longtime VU Assistant Coach Brian Davis served as acting Head Coach Saturday night and helped guide the Trailblazers to victory.

Vincennes got off to a slow start Saturday night and really took some time to get their feet under them before striking with an 8-0 scoring run to take a 16-12 lead over the Blue Knights.

The VU lead would grow to 23-18 before the Blue Knights answered back to take a 24-23 lead.

The lead changed hands eight times in the span of a few minutes of game clock before the Blazers truly separated themselves with a 9-0 scoring run late in the first half to take a 39-31 lead.

Olney would cut into the deficit before half but were unable to regain the lead as VU headed into the locker room leading 41-35 at the break.

The second half was again more of a back-and-forth battle, with VU using a string of trading two baskets for one to help grow the first double-digit lead of the game at 52-42 early in the second half.

VU would grow their lead to the largest margin of the game at 66-49 midway through the final half of play before the Blue Knights looked to battle back and get another late comeback.

Slowly Olney Central chipped away at the VU lead, cutting the deficit down to 10 at 75-65 and getting the VU lead back down to single digits at 78-70.

Olney Central would get within six points late in the game but were unable to fully erase the VU lead as Vincennes put the game away at the free throw line to pick up the 87-79 victory over the Blue Knights.

"We would have loved to have Coach Franklin here tonight obviously," VU Assistant Men's Basketball Coach Brian Davis said. "I thought the guys really battled hard and got the win. Coach Glash is a great coach and they have a very good team. They have beaten a lot of people and they are going to beat a lot of people. We've been to Hutch a number of times since I've been here and I think that's they type of team that could get out there and do something."

"Olney is a hard team to guard," Davis added. "They are not really big, so their guards can all shoot. They are quick and they come at you for 40 minutes. But I thought our guys have been really locked in all week. We had a good gameplan coming into tonight and really competed for 40 minutes and were able to make enough plays to get it done."

VU was led offensively by a pair of double-doubles from the guard position, first by freshman Lebron Thomas, who etched his name into the VU 30-point club with 31 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals, setting career-highs in points and rebounds to earn his first collegiate double-double.

Sophomore Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) was against all over the court Saturday night, ending his night with 10 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, recording his first collegiate double-double and setting a new career-high in rebounds as well.

Sophomore Kent King (Washington, D.C.) came off the bench to get the VU offense going early, scoring 12 of his 15 points in the first 20 minutes of action while also ending with five rebounds on the night.

Sophomore Victor Lado (Louisville, Ky.) played some big minutes off the bench to end his night with nine points and three rebounds, while freshman Damarien Yates (Somerville, Tenn.) ended with seven points and three rebounds.

The Trailblazers controlled the glass all game long, besting the Blue Knights in the rebounding margin 45-24 Saturday night.

"The rebounding is something that we've been known for, especially since Coach Franklin has been here," Davis said. "We put a lot of pride in that. We go out and recruit strong, physical guys like a Michael Osei-Bonsu, Karyiek Dixon or Victor Lado.  Over a 40 minutes game and the emphasis that we put on rebounding, along with their bigger bodies, we're not always going to outrebound everybody by 21 but we feel like we have a good chance to be a really good rebounding team."

"12 offensive rebounds as well give you those extra possessions," Davis said. "We also outscored Olney at the free throw line 34 to 14. As long as you don't make too many turnovers and do anything too crazy, you are going to give yourself a chance to win."

The Trailblazers will look to keep this momentum going into next week when the Trailblazers hit the road Wednesday, Feb. 28 to face off against Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill. Tip-off time Wednesday is set for 8 p.m. eastern.

"I think our practices have been really good this week," Davis said. "Our guys have been locked in. I think they are starting to see that it's late February, the end is coming near and we've got a number of sophomores. So, they've been really locked in and now we've got to go on the road."

"On every level of college basketball, you see teams like UCONN blowing everybody out, then they go on the road and lose to Creighton by 19," Davis added. "You've got Kentucky doing good things and they did good things again today, then they go on the road and lose to an LSU team. We've lost at Olney. We've lost at Indian Hills and we've lost at John A. Logan this season. We need to show that we can win on the road and really need to be ready to go for Wednesday."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (87): Damarien Yates 2-6 3-4 7, Michael Osei-Bonsu 1-5 2-4 4, Karyiek Dixon 2-7 1-2 5, Ryan Oliver 2-6 6-7 10, Lebron Thomas 8-12 13-16 31, Gerard Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Kris King 3-6 0-0 6, Kent King 5-10 4-6 15, Victor Lado 2-5 5-6 9, Team 25-57 34-45 87.

Olney Central – 35   44 – 79

VU (24-3, 11-2) – 41   46 – 87

Three-point goals: VU 3 (L. Thomas 2, Ke. King). Rebounds: VU 45 (Oliver 11). Assists: VU 15 (L. Thomas 4, Kr. King 4). Steals: VU 6 (L. Thomas 3). Blocked Shots: VU 5 (Lado 2). Turnovers: VU 14. Personal Fouls: VU 18. Fouled out: None.