Trailblazers fall to Mineral Area College at Olney Central Classic

OLNEY, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers hit the road for their first game this season away from the Physical Education Complex, heading to Olney, Ill. to take part in the 2024 Olney Central Classic.

The Trailblazers took on Mineral Area College from Park Hills, Mo., Sunday afternoon and fell on the wrong side of an 82-79 final score.

Vincennes got off to a great start Sunday afternoon, jumping out to an early lead and expanding this lead to 23-15 midway through the opening half of play.

Mineral Area would answer back and even the game at 29-29 before the Blazers closed out the first half strong to take a narrow 41-39 lead into the locker room at the halftime break.

The Cardinals grabbed the early momentum in the second half, taking their first lead of the game early in the second half 49-47.

VU rallied back to swing the momentum with an 8-0 scoring run to regain the lead at 59-54 midway through the second half.

The lead changed hands a total of seven times during the second half with the two teams trading shots down the stretch.

Mineral Area was able to get the momentum back late with six straight points to take a 75-70 lead.

Vincennes continued to battle and cut the deficit down to one late but were unable to regain the lead as Mineral Area closed out the game by the final score of 82-79.

"I thought there were a lot of opportunities for us and we're just trying to find five guys that want to do it the way that we are telling them to do it and do it as hard and as competitive as they possibly can," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "We can't find five guys at a time. It's very frustrating and I'm disappointed in myself. Because I know better and I can see it and in this new age it's very difficult because you are basically at the whim of what do they want to do. If they want to play bad enough then they will do what I tell them and they would be successful. Today, it was there. We could have had a post man have 30 today easy."

"But we can't find anybody to do what we tell them to," Franklin added. "We worked all week long on how we wanted our four to be in a trail situation and in the first half they just ran haphazardly all over it. Things like that. Defensively, we're supposed to be between them and the basket squared up. Traditionally, we've been one of the better teams in the country defensively for a long time and in today's game that's exactly what you need to be focusing on. The whole game came down to that."

"So I'm frustrated right now," Franklin said. "I hope our guys are hurting. They should be hurting right now and they need to look in the mirror hard. We're playing good teams. All of our games are Division I and one Top 20 Division II, so we're not getting any gimmes. That's just not what we do. But the game was there. The two games before against Columbia State and Moberly were there hanging in the middle of the second half and could have been different if we were disciplined the whole way."

VU was led offensively by sophomore and 2024 NJCAA All-American Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) who finished the game with 22 points, four assists and two rebounds.

Freshman Dayton Williams (Louisville, Ky.) got the Trailblazer offense going early, using nine first half points to finish the game with 19 points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Freshman Kenaz Ochogwu (E. Providence, R.I.) played some big minutes off the bench Sunday afternoon for Vincennes, finishing the game with seven points and three rebounds.

"Guys don't play really well and don't do what they are told and then act like somebody is doing them wrong," Franklin said. "Right now, if we don't get over that and we don't start trying to be better and try to do what Coach says, I've won a few games now. And tonight if we had found five guys consistently to grit their teeth and do what we train to do, I feel very confident that we could have, should have and would have won this game. I should have between 12 and 15 guys, depending on how many I've got healthy, all chomping at the bit to do that."

"I think we've been pretty good over the years of getting our guys scholarships," Franklin added. "We've had more guys sign Division I in my 27 year career than anyone. So if you do it, you win and it's been successful, gets you a scholarship, all of those things. So you would think that I would have 12 to 15 guys chomping at the bit. But they are not. We've got to find that."

"Right now, we're not bad," Franklin said. "We're in it playing against pretty good teams. Win some, lose some, that's where we've been the whole time. We were that way in the jamborees. We're that way now. But I'm very frustrated today because after the Moberly game last Saturday, it's one of those moments where you can't really deny it anymore. I've seen it the whole time. Here's where we need to sharpen up. Here's where we need to harden up. We need to focus on what Coach says and then do it and I think if we had that today we would have won the game. There's some energy at times but that really hard edge, tough minded, it's just not like it has been. I know I have a new team, but I've had new teams before. At some point, that's what has got to happen."

The Trailblazers will look to rebound and get back on track when VU returns home to the P.E. Complex, Wednesday, Dec. 4 when Vincennes hosts Schoolcraft College at 7 p.m. eastern on Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night.

"I've got to do a better job, as I say every time, because it falls on me at the end of the day," Franklin said. "But I'm a little frustrated right now because I believe that we should do better. I believe that the things that we are not doing really well, we might not be perfect at, we can do better. I believe that if we had a guy down on that block, doing what we tell him to do and did that as hard as he could, I believe that guy would have had a big day."

"I should be frustrated right now and the players should be frustrated right now and they've got to turn that frustration and look in the mirror and say I've got to do better and I need to do what Coach says," Franklin added. "I need to do what he says as hard as I can and win with it. That's where we are and when I get a group that does it, they do it every day in practice and they take accountability for that, I think we'll get over the top of these games and we'll win them. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. I'm going to try and keep pushing. But today, to me, was not because Mineral was not good, Mineral's got a good team and we've got to beat good teams. We can't lose because we are playing a good team. If you can't because they are better, that's one thing."

"Anybody who watched us today will know I was subbing all the time trying to find it," Franklin said. "I'm searching. If you give it to me, I'll leave you out there. If you don't, I'm going to keep subbing. I've got guys that were getting multiple opportunities and they just refused to do what I tell them. I've got to find a way to get that across but it was easier 10, 15, 20 years ago. Now you are kind of at the mercy of do they really want to win, do they want to be successful, do they want those scholarships that they are going to want in the Spring. Because if they don't start changing, those things aren't going to happen. Those things happen because you do a great job, bust your tail, you win, you achieve. They don't happen just because you are wearing that jersey. I want them all to be successful and we're trying but you aren't going to be successful if you can't lock down and get this done."

"I'll keep fighting to the end," Franklin added. "I'll keep fighting through the end of the year and I think we can do better and I think we could have won all three of the games that we lost. But at some point in time, they've got to decide. They've got to decide that maybe I'm right and maybe what they are doing isn't as good as it should be and maybe they want to get in here and really work at getting hard edged about what we tell them to do. Or maybe not. Maybe the 27 years before have been a fluke. Maybe we were just really lucky for 27 years. Maybe we were just lucky in that cornfield at Southeastern where nobody could win or has since, but we did. Maybe that was just luck. But if I was a player right now, I would look at that and go, probably not. He's probably right and I probably need to step it up. I'm going to try to step it up as a Coach and they may or may not like that because stepping up right now is not going to be the sweetest thing in the world. I've really been pretty nice all year but right now, I don't know if that's really where we need to be. I think there are some guys who need to look hard in the mirror and decide how bad do they want to be good and can we depend on you and can you do what Coach says and do it competitively because that's what is expected and what should be expected at Vincennes. If you came to Vincennes, then you should have brought that. We can say that we've got good guys. They are good guys but are they as competitive as they need to be right now and are they as disciplined and that's disappointing to me because that's not okay. Right now we need to get young men to come in here and do what we say to do and do it in a competitive fashion and I've got to do a better job of getting that done."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (79): Jalen Calloway 1-6 2-3 4, Bryan Akanmu 2-3 0-0 4, Michael Cooper 2-6 0-0 4, Lebron Thomas 6-15 9-13 22, Dayton Williams 9-14 0-1 19, Christian Andrews 1-2 2-2 4, Meyoh Swansey 2-4 0-0 5, Taveon Smith 1-1 0-0 3, Darstin Onye 1-6 2-2 4, Kenaz Ochogwu 1-1 5-7 7, Hussein Elmaraghy 1-2 1-2 3, Team 27-60 21-30 79.

Mineral Area – 39   43 – 82

VU (6-3) – 41   38 – 79

Three-point goals: VU 4 (Thomas, Williams, Swansey, Smith). Rebounds: VU 37 (Williams 9). Assists: VU 19 (Thomas 4, Andrews 4). Steals: VU 7 (Onye 3). Blocked Shots: VU 4 (Williams 2). Turnovers: VU 11. Personal Fouls: VU 22. Fouled out: None. Technical Fouls: Akanmu (2nd – 10:23).