INA, Ill. – The No. 4-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers punched their ticket to the 2024 NJCAA Division I National tournament Friday night by winning over Wabash Valley College 73-67 to claim VU's first District tournament championship since 2018.
VU sophomore Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) also took home some hardware of his own, earning tournament MVP honors after scoring 56 points and grabbing 36 rebounds over the three-game tournament.
Vincennes Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin also received the 2023-24 NJCAA Division I Region 24 Coach of the Year award Friday night.
Friday's game lived up to the big game hype with a Championship on the line, with every possession feeling extremely important all night long.
The Trailblazers were the first to strike out of the gates, opening up the game on an 11-3 scoring run before Wabash Valley would answer back with 11 straight to take a 14-11 lead.
Vincennes would grab the lead back later in the half at 24-23 before Wabash Valley answered with a 6-1 scoring run.
The Trailblazers were able to close out the half strong, evening the game at 29-29 after a pair of free throws with under a minute remaining.
This would be the score at the end of the first half as the two teams headed into the locker room deadlocked at 29-29 after the first 20 minutes of play.
The upset-minded Warriors looked to grab the early momentum in the second half, building a 36-31 lead before VU would capitalize on a 9-0 scoring run to take a 45-39 lead.
Wabash Valley continued to fight and got the game back to even at 52-52 before later taking the lead back at 59-58.
VU would answer back with seven unanswered to take a 65-59 lead and later get their largest lead of the night at 71-63.
Vincennes was able to hold on to this lead as the Blazers ran down the clock and closed out the 73-67 victory, capturing their first Region 24/Central District tournament Championship since 2018 and earning them a spot in the NJCAA Division I National tournament for the 11th time in 12 years.
"I thought Wabash did a great job," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "They had a great gameplan and we knew what the gameplan was going to be. It was exactly what we thought they were going to do but they executed it. I thought we had a chance early to really establish ourselves and we got sloppy. Then we acted like the pressure and the momentum got to us and we got out of character."
"But we did what we had to do," Franklin added. "We leveled up and handled it. They made some tough shots in the second half. But that's going to happen when you are going up against somebody who is playing well. They had a big week, played two good ball games and now they are playing for their lives and we had to handle it."
"Wabash Valley did a great job," Franklin said. "They fought us. They battled us and they made us have to earn it. We weren't hitting jump shots and we didn't want to shoot jump shots and that's exactly what they wanted. We'll have to learn from that. It's one of those little lessons, under pressure and all of those things that we have to handle. But we hit two big shots late and that was the difference in the ball game. Ryan hit one on one side of the court and Kent hit one on the other side and at the end of the game, that six-point difference, that's really what it was. We had been looking for those things all night long, didn't get it, but we got it there."
The Blazers were led offensively by tournament MVP Michael Osei-Bonsu, who finished with another big double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds, his 11th double-double of the season and 17th of his VU career.
Sophomore Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) also scored in double figures, ending his night with 15 points, seven rebounds and a team-high five assists.
Sophomore Kris King (Washington, D.C.) came off the bench to add 13 points on the night, including hitting a perfect seven of seven from the free throw line.
Freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) closed out his tournament with eight points and five assists, while sophomore Kent King (Washington, D.C) added seven points and a pair of steals.
Sophomore Karyiek Dixon (Enfield, London, UK) scored all seven of his points Friday night in the second half while also grabbing eight rebounds.
"This is a great win," Franklin said. "Our guys have got to deal with a lot. We're coming over here, traveling four hours round trip just on the bus, not counting the things like getting here early and all of the other schedule things that can really tax you. Three times in five days. It's not fair and it's not fair that we are put in that position and certainly not fair that the best team in the league, who earned that right is doing that. I strongly believe that and we are constantly put in a bit of an unfair situation."
"Our guys had to deal with that and I think you saw some of that tonight," Franklin added. "You could see that there's a little bit of fatigue in those legs. Things get a little messy in your head when those things happen. But our guys were tough enough and gutted it out and got it done."
"I'm proud of them," Franklin said. "This group is 60-9 over the last two seasons. They were 30 and 6 last year and I think that last year's team was very undervalued. We had to play all year without Lebron. New group, put together after COVID. We had the eventual National Champions in the District. We played a great schedule always and when it was all said and done, we were 30 and 6 without Lebron. Just imagine if Logan had played without Peterson, their point guard, last year. Take him off the team and put Lebron back on ours, what do you think would happen?"
"So this group was put under that level and handle that and I think last season is a little undervalued," Franklin added. "You get to an Elite Eight when you lose a guy that probably would have been a starter and an impact guy at a position that you really needed. Playing our competition level and by the end of the year we're beating Southern Idaho, who was probably the third best team and a Texas champion and winning 30 games. After, really day one, losing one of your key things. Then to flip that around this year and everybody acting like this team was supposed to be ready made coming back, we had one starter coming back. So it's been undervalued for their team, they did a great job and we're going to try and win a National Championship."
The win Friday night is VU's 30th win of the season, the 20th time a Vincennes University men's basketball team has surpassed the 30-win mark.
The Trailblazers also clinched their 38th NJCAA National Tournament appearance, an NJCAA record and 11th trip in the last 12 seasons, also an NJCAA record.
VU will wait to see their seed and National tournament path on Selection Sunday, March 17 at 7 p.m. which will air live on the NJCAA Network.
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (73): Damarien Yates 0-3 1-2 1, Ryan Oliver 4-7 5-8 15, Lebron Thomas 2-9 3-4 8, Michael Osei-Bonsu 6-9 5-9 17, Karyiek Dixon 3-4 1-3 7, Gerard Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Mathieu Nader-Kalombo 1-2 1-2 3, Kris King 3-10 7-7 13, Kent King 1-7 4-4 7, Victor Lado 0-0 2-2 2, Team 20-51 29-41 73.
Wabash Valley – 29 38 – 67
VU (30-3, 17-2) – 29 44 – 73
Three-point goals: VU 4 (Oliver 2, L. Thomas, Ke. King). Rebounds: VU 42 (Osei-Bonsu 14). Assists: VU 15 (Oliver 5, L. Thomas 5). Steals: VU 5 (Oliver 2, Ke. King 2). Blocked Shots: VU 2 (L. Thomas, Lado). Turnovers: VU 17. Personal Fouls: VU 16. Fouled out: None.