No. 18 Trailblazers fall in final game of 2024 Kiwanis Classic

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 18 ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers closed out the 2024 Kiwanis Classic Saturday night inside the Physical Education Complex.

The Blazers came out on the wrong end of a 80-68 final score against Columbia State Community College in the final game of the weekend Classic.

Vincennes opened the game with an excellent start, scoring the first seven points of the game and quickly building a 12-5 advantage over the Chargers.

VU would maintain this lead until Columbia State closed out the first half by outscoring Vincennes 7-2 to take a 44-41 advantage over the Blazers into the locker room break.

Vincennes was able to battle back in the second half, regaining the lead at 53-52 before the lead changed hands several times throughout the middle part of the final 20 minute period.

Columbia State was able to grab the momentum late with a 9-0 scoring run to break open a 75-64 lead, which the Trailblazers were unable to overcome as the Chargers closed out the weekend with an 80-68 victory over VU.

"The better team won," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "It's that simple. We have always prided ourselves on being the tougher, smarter team and we weren't tonight. We were neither and that's on me but it's also that we are a new team and we're still trying to figure it out. That's one of the things that they need to figure out, that what you did before is not going to work at this level with the type of teams that we are playing."

"Before November 2nd we've been on the floor in pretty competitive deals with jamborees against Southeastern Iowa, Walters State, Northeast Mississippi, East Mississippi and Columbia State," Franklin added. "All teams that have a tremendous chance to get to Hutch. We won three of them, lost two. They have all been competitive and could have gone either way. That's where we are. We're in a pile with those guys and if we play sharpe, make shots, tougher and get over the edge we can win it and if we don't then we lose it."

"We've got to improve if we want to distance ourselves and get above that," Franklin added. "But that's where we are. We're right in that pack of teams. That's what it's proven so far. Now we've got to figure out what we want to do. Because we are going to have to get better. Because those teams are going to continue to get better. That level is going to continue to get better and that's the level of teams that are really going to be in contention to get to Hutch with probably another 30 or 40 teams around the country."

"We're in that pile," Franklin said. "We're not in the upper part of that pile right now. We're in the middle part of that pile and back. We're probably 20 to 40 and that's genuinely where we are at. We've got to play better and get better to move up and if we don't then we might fall all the way out of that. I'm not talking about rankings or polls, I'm talking about reality. We've seen that and we've played those types of people, so that's where we are. There are things that we need to clean up, obviously, but the biggest thing right now is we've got to find out who are the guys. I don't know that right now. Who is going to want it bad enough. Who is going to work hard enough. Who is going to want to listen well enough."

Vincennes was led offensively by 2024 NJCAA All-American sophomore Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) who finished with 22 points, three assists and a pair of steals.

Freshman Dayton Williams (Louisville, Ky.) finished just short of his first collegiate double-double, ending the night with 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.) was the third VU scorer in double figures, also coming close to a double-double of her own with 16 points and eight rebounds on the night.

The Trailblazers will look to bounce back and get back in the win column when VU hits the floor next weekend for the 2024 McDonald's Classic Friday, Nov. 8 and Saturday, Nov. 9.

Vincennes will open the weekend classic against Richard J. Daley College Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. eastern before facing Kennedy-King College Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. to close out the weekend.

 "We're not good enough right now," Franklin said. "We've been good enough. We know how to be good enough and we're going to have to get there. We'll see who wants to go to work. And then not only who wants to go to work but who is going to get better. You can say 'I'm working' but who is going to get better. That's what we have to do. We have to work to get better."

"They should know now and we've had plenty of time here playing these teams early that we know what the taste of it is," Franklin added. "We know that I'm not full of it when I tell them what it is. They've got a two-time All-American in DeShawn Delaney in there right now talking to them and was telling them the same thing when I left that 'that ain't good enough' and 'that ain't what we do'. So they've got to understand. I've won a million games and sometimes I'm speaking to them and it's like they are thinking, 'is this guy crazy'. No I'm not crazy, I know exactly what it takes and if you are not there yet, I'm going to tell you that. If I tell you you've got to pick the intensity up, you've got to pick the intensity up."

"Maybe now we'll see who wants to because this is a big week coming up," Franklin said. "It's a big week because they have no excuse now to not listen and to not come in here with urgency in their work and know what it is. So we'll see what it is. But tonight the better team won. The guy who did a better job of coaching his team won. Simple, when you compete and play good teams, sometimes they are going to hit you in the mouth and if you don't respond as well as you want, you go back home and say I didn't do well enough and I've got to get better. That's where we are at."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (68): Bryan Akanmu 3-8 0-0 6, Michael Cooper 5-9 4-5 16, Taveon Smith 0-4 0-0 0, Lebron Thomas 6-17 8-8 22, Dayton Williams 7-13 3-5 17, Christian Andrews 1-4 0-0 2, Meyoh Swansey 0-0 0-0 0, Jalen Calloway 1-1 0-0 2, Travelle Bryson 1-1 0-0 2, Darstin Onye 0-1 1-2 1, Hussein Elmaraghy 0-1 0-0 0, Team 24-59 16-20 68.

Columbia State – 44   36 – 80

VU (1-1) – 41   27 – 68

Three-point goals: VU 4 (Cooper 2, L. Thomas 2). Rebounds: VU 28 (Williams 9). Assists: VU 14 (Andrews 4). Steals: VU 8 (L. Thomas 2, Andrews 2, Cooper 2). Blocked Shots: VU 7 (Elmaraghy 2). Turnovers: VU 18. Personal Fouls: VU 23. Fouled out: Akanmu.