CENTRALIA, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers moved up in this week's NJCAA Division I National rankings to No. 6 this week.
The Blazers hit the road for their only game of the week Wednesday night, heading to Centralia to take on Kaskaskia College.
The Blazers looked to get the ball into the block all night and were able to pull away in the second half for a 72-52 victory over the Blue Devils.
The game began as a back-and-forth affair, with VU grabbing an early 11-7 lead before the Blue Devils answered back to take a 17-15 lead with just under 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
Vincennes then answered back with a 9-2 scoring run to take a 24-19 lead before the Blue Devils came back to cut the deficit down to one at 26-25.
The Blazers were able to close out the first half strong however, building their largest lead of the half at 33-26 and taking a 37-32 lead into the locker room at the halftime break.
VU looked to create some space on the scoreboard early in the second half and opened the final 20-minute period on a 14-4 scoring run to lead 51-36.
After Kaskaskia cut the VU lead back down to nine, the Blazers would later answer with eight unanswered to take a 66-48 lead.
The Blazers then looked to take some air out of the ball and keep the clock moving and were able to keep the defensive pressure to not allow the Blue Devils a late comeback.
VU scored the final two buckets of the game to finish out the 72-52 victory over Kaskaskia College, VU's 20th win of the season.
Vincennes allowed just 20 points in the second half Wednesday night and only allowed five second half field goals against the Blue Devils.
"It was a combination of both ends of the floor in that second half," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "We were more methodical with the ball in the second half and didn't get the turnovers. We moved the ball and swung it. Then they start to break down inside and they get in foul trouble. They get tired of trying to fight that thing. Then we did a better job of moving it and getting sealed inside."
"We still didn't finish it quite as well inside as we really wanted," Franklin added. "I thought we could but good enough. We got Michael going in there with a bit of energy during the last rotation. But we just broke them down in there. Because of that, at the other end, they don't get transitions. And once we stop their transition it's more about how hard we want to work at staying squared between them and the basket. When we did, I think they are used to being able to bully and their guards are strong but we've got bigger guards and wings. So as long as we stayed squared, we were in pretty good shape."
"Then once we did that, then we didn't give up the pick and pops to the bigs and didn't have to help as much," Franklin said. "When we shut that down and the transition wasn't there, then we got a little tougher on the backside rebounds. I thought in the first half we let them push us under the basket a few times. We knew better but we didn't fight it quite as hard. In the second half we didn't give those up."
"So the things that hurt us in the first half, we knew how to deal with them, we didn't deal with them as well as we should," Franklin added. "In the second half we got a little more determined and did. It's that simple. Then we went to who we are on the offensive end. We're going to grind you. You know it's coming and we're like a great running team in football. Then that should set up easy passes and easy plays off of it and that's how we are going to play and I thought that took a toll on them."
The Trailblazers were led by a big second half by sophomore Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.), who scored 13 of his team-high 18 points in the second half, while also picking up six rebounds.
Freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) just missed out on a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds, while also dishing out four assists.
Sophomore Victor Lado (Louisville, Ky.) got the VU offense going early, finishing his night with 12 points and a pair of blocks.
Sophomore Karyiek Dixon (Enfield, London, UK) had a big all-around night for the Trailblazers, finishing with his fourth double-double of the season with 10 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high five blocks.
Sophomore Kent King (Washington, D.C.) played some big minutes off the bench and finished with nine points and five rebounds.
Sophomore Kris King (Washington, D.C.) came away with seven points, five rebounds and a team-high five assists for VU.
"We are going to be unrelenting on the inside," Franklin said. "There is going to be two guys on the floor all the time that can hurt you and you are going to have to deal with it. It's 40 minutes of it and we're not hiding it from anybody. We've got a lot of different actions and ways that we can get to it. But we're going to get to it and you are going to have to deal with it. That's not going to change."
"As we keep refining and defining how to do that and play off of it, as we hit better shots off of it and feed it better," Franklin added. "As Lebron does a better job of being strong, controlled and patient as we attack and then get it swung when they take it away on his drive actions, we are going to be hard to handle. And we should be hard to handle. There should be no reason for us not to be. We put some big bodies, strong guys that we've worked with for two years to get them to know what they are doing in there. A lot of people don't do that and a lot of people don't have that and that's not what they believe in. Okay, well we do, so deal with it if you can. It's no secret. It's what's coming and it's going to keep coming."
The Trailblazers are idle this weekend but will return to action Wednesday, Feb. 7 when the Blazers host Shawnee Community College into the Physical Education Complex. Tip-off time next week is set for 7 p.m. eastern.
"I've got to get our guys motivated," Franklin said. "I'm trying to hold true to that as best as I can. But we are in a position that we wanted to be in when the season started. We feel like we should be 22-0 but we're 20-2. Going to be top-five in the country by the time we play our next game. We are going to be in first place in the league, whether it's tied or by ourselves. And we've got five of the last eight Region games at home, including the one team that we lost to."
"We are everywhere we wanted to be," Franklin added. "We're there right now, so all of these players should be super excited about working their tail off and trying to get themselves ready to go. That's what we want. There's no mystery about how we try to play or what we do. What we are trying to master and what skills, as a player, you should be working on. We keep adding little wrinkles that allow us to do the things that we'd like to do even better as we go from one game to the next. But our guys know who we are supposed to be. It's just perfecting it. So, if I was a player, I'd be excited about that and we should have an exciting week of work."
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (72): Kris King 3-11 0-0 7, Ryan Oliver 0-1 0-0 0, Lebron Thomas 6-10 3-4 16, Victor Lado 6-12 0-2 12, Karyiek Dixon 4-9 2-3 10, Damarien Yates 0-1 0-0 0, Mathieu Nader-Kalombo 0-0 0-0 0, Kent King 4-7 0-1 9, Michael Osei-Bonsu 7-11 4-8 18, Team 30-62 9-18 72.
VU (20-2, 7-1) – 37 35 – 72
Kaskaskia – 32 20 – 52
Three-point goals: VU 3 (Kr. King, L. Thomas, Ke. King). Rebounds: VU 42 (Dixon 11). Assists: VU 18 (Kr. King 5). Steals: VU 4 (Kr. King, Oliver, L. Thomas, Lado). Blocked Shots: VU 10 (Dixon 5). Turnovers: VU 9. Personal Fouls: VU 16. Fouled out: None.