No. 7 Trailblazers go wire to wire in Region 24 win over Wabash Valley College

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 7 ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers returned home for the first time since February 8th as the Blazers faced off against a tough Region 24 rival in Wabash Valley College from Mt. Carmel, Ill.

The Trailblazers were able to build a big early lead thanks to some outstanding first half defense and ride the momentum through a tough, physical second half as the Blazers picked their 19th straight victory by the final score of 70-52.

Vincennes opened the game strong in front of a big home crowd on Good Samaritan Night and Blaze to a Community Cure Cancer Awareness Night inside the P.E. Complex.

The Trailblazers defense caused the Warriors problems for most of the first half, with Wabash Valley only connecting on two field goals and scoring eight points in the first 15 minutes of action.

VU was able to capitalize on this tough defense and open a big 23-8 lead on the offensive end of the floor.

The Warriors were able to get their offense going late in the first half but were unable to cut the VU lead back down to single digits before halftime as the Trailblazers headed to the locker room holding a 33-22 advantage.

The two teams opened the second half going back and forth, trading baskets before the Trailblazers broke away again with a 14-3 scoring run to take a 60-37 lead.

Wabash Valley battled and looked to work their way back into the game but the Trailblazers were able to run the clock late in the second half and cruise down the stretch at the free throw line.

Vincennes closed out the game strong, leading the game from tip to buzzer and closing out their 19th consecutive victory on the season by the final score of 70-52.

"This was just a tough, grind it game," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "Wabash is playing really hard right now, they are coming off of three blowout wins in a row and Coach has done a good job with them. They are based on defense and they are going to grind you on offense. They are going to try to get you caught on screens and curls and rescreens just to see if you can handle that."

"The pressured the whole time and try to get you out of your game," Franklin added. "They are willing to play hard and they are. I thought our team did a pretty good job. We had too many turnovers. It wasn't that we were getting forced into it from the press, we were able to see that and break it, we just had too many turnovers. That's how the game stayed close when you look at everything else. We outrebounded them really badly. Defensively we were good. We shot a good percentage, we just turned it over too many times. That's the difference between really expanding it and running away. But give Wabash Valley credit, they played hard and when teams play hard against you, you are more apt to turn it over and that's exactly what happened."

VU was led offensively by a big game on the low block by sophomore Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France), who finished off his fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while also dishing out four assists.

Freshman Travelle Bryson (Anderson, S.C.) was the next leading scorer, scoring in double figures for the eighth time this season with 13 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Sophomore Hussein Elmaraghy (Cairo, Egypt) was the third VU scorer in double figures, finishing his night with 12 points and six rebounds.

Sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.) came off the bench Saturday night and added eight points and four rebounds to his totals.

"Obviously Lebron is still not playing at 100-percent," Franklin said. "So that makes it even more that we are going to get the ball inside. There was not as much downhill action that he is going to get. He did a good job, his back is just a little tender right now. We've got one more game on Tuesday and then we will have almost a full week to get ready for the District Tournament."

"So it was important tonight that Hussein and Bryan had good games," Franklin added. "Kenaz had some moments and Ali, when you add those two together, you get another double figure effort. When you put Hussein, Ali and Kenaz altogether, tonight you get a big night out of the five spot. Bryan and Michael you can put them together. They played together, especially when it got later and they were going to go more stretch. But when you really look at it and you break it down that way, those guys numbers were really pretty good."

"We've got to get a little bit more consistently from our wings," Franklin said. "Travelle had some moments. I thought Dayton guarded, particularly early. But we've got to hit the gaps and with Lebron being a little bit tender, he's not hitting the gaps quite as hard. But we got a couple of outside shots to fall and that helped get us up to 20 or 22 and from there we just grinded. We were running some clock late and we did a fairly good job of that. We probably could have scored a few more points tonight if we weren't doing that but I thought that was the right way to play the game down the stretch."

"It's a grind it game and it's a good game to play right now," Franklin added. "It will help you get sharpened up for the postseason. That's much more what a postseason type game is going to be. It's a grind, it's tough, it's hard, physical, they are going to play hard against you and the team that handles that the best is going to win and the majority of the games in the postseason are that way."

"I thought we did a good job during that stretch in the second half where we took it from 10 to 20 or 22," Franklin said. "Most of that was off of good defense. We got stops defensively, got into some transitions and I thought that was the difference. We just need to cut those 20 turnovers back down to the 10 we have been around and in a game like this you have to be even tougher minded to do it. That's something we will take from tonight and learn from it and if we can do that, then we are going to score more in the 80's and everything else will be about equal."

The Trailblazers will look to close out the regular season strong as they get set for the regular season finale Tuesday, March 4 inside the Physical Education Complex on Sophomore Night.

VU will host Kaskaskia College Tuesday night, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. eastern.

"We've got to be a little bit tougher, lower and just a little bit more intense everywhere," Franklin said. "Most of our turnovers were just a little bit less of the nasty and intensity that you need at this time. That's what caused them. It wasn't anything else or our inability to handle something but you have to give credit to Wabash because they asked the question all night. They made you have to play at a certain level all night. They made you have to play a little quicker and harder maybe than you wanted to. They really weren't giving a whole lot of things easy, so that's something that we will take from this and see if we can't get sharpened up."

"It's a short turnaround going from tonight to Tuesday," Franklin added. "We don't really have anybody that hurt right now, but we've got some owies. That's just what we have and they are real. We have to practice tomorrow because of the short turnaround and also you want to get the lactic acid and things out of your system, so you need to get out here and move so you are not as sore. We'll do that tomorrow and sharpen up on Monday and be ready to go. We'll look at Kaskaskia a little bit but mostly it's about us just staying in who we are."

"But we've got a big deal in here on Tuesday night," Franklin added. "People need to come out. It's sophomore night, it's the last time that you are going to see these players in here and they are going for the undefeated District record. There is less than five teams that have ever done that so it's rare. They have an opportunity to do that Tuesday night and I can't imagine if we win Tuesday night that we haven't pretty much punched our ticket to Hutch. Finishing the regular season in the top six or seven in the country, when it's over, it's hard not to imagine you being one of those teams if you needed an at large that you would get it."

"That's one of our goals every year," Franklin said. "Our goal is to win the District, be playing our best basketball at the end and try to see if by the time the regular season ends do we really feel like we've done enough that we will be at Hutch by then. Then we want to go into the District Tournament, obviously wanting to win the District Tournament and then seeing if we can't improve our seed or get a bye. Our regular season goals, I think we can pretty much nail them all Tuesday night if we come out here and take care of business."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (70): Bryan Akanmu 5-14 5-6 15, Travelle Bryson 4-9 5-6 13, Hussein Elmaraghy 5-7 2-3 12, Lebron Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Dayton Williams 2-4 0-0 5, Christian Andrews 0-0 0-0 0, Meyoh Swansey 1-3 0-0 2, Jalen Calloway 0-0 2-2 2, Taveon Smith 1-1 1-1 3, Michael Cooper 2-4 3-3 8, Ali Sakho 1-1 2-2 4, Kenaz Ochogwu 3-4 0-0 6, Team 24-48 20-23 70.

Wabash Valley – 22   30 – 52

VU (25-3, 15-0) – 33   37 – 70

Three-point goals: VU 2 (Williams, Cooper). Rebounds: VU 43 (Akanmu 13). Assists: VU 20 (Thomas 5, Williams 5). Steals: VU 7 (Williams 2). Blocked Shots: VU 0. Turnovers: VU 20. Personal Fouls: VU 17. Fouled out: Elmaraghy.