BELLEVILLE, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers continue to roll as the Blazers finished off their seventh straight win Thursday night at Southwestern Illinois College 82-59.
The Trailblazers got off to a hot start Thursday night, scoring the opening six points of the game and quickly building a double-digit 17-7 lead over the Blue Storm.
Southwestern Illinois would answer back and cut the VU lead down to one at 26-25 before the Blazers finished out the opening half strong by outscoring SWIC 16-4 to take a 42-29 lead into the locker room break.
Vincennes looked to keep their foot on the gas in the second half, using an early 10-3 run to grow their lead to 54-36.
The two teams would trade baskets before VU used a 15-5 run to get the lead to 76-52.
Southwestern Illinois continued to battle down the stretch but were unable to cut into the deficit as the Blazers closed out the wire-to-wire victory by the final score of 82-59.
"I thought we were pretty solid," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "We obviously had moments and we're a work in progress like most everybody in the country. We have made a lot of gains and for the most part we controlled the game. We got stops all night, had a few breakdowns where we let them get to the front side block which is frustrating because we know that's what they are trying to do."
"But for the most part we played pretty good defense," Franklin added. "Rebounding against SWIC is always a challenge, especially in here and I thought we did an excellent job overall in that. We were plus 14 rebounding and held them to just six offensive rebounds and they missed a number of shots."
"I didn't think that they forced us into too many turnovers," Franklin said. "We had a couple of sloppy ones. Still 15 is a little too high. We need to get that down to 10 to 12 which is a realistic number of where we need to be. And then your 82 points becomes 90 if we simply do that. We've talked about that and emphasized that. I thought we moved the ball pretty well."
"Additionally we got some guys like Jalen and Travelle to hit from outside," Franklin added. "Those were big and it got them extended a little bit and Kenaz was able to finish some plays around the basket. But I thought it was a good effort by us. There are definitely a million different places we can get better and are going to have to but it's a good win to come in here and beat them any time you come in here and win 82-59. They were hot too. I think they had won four in a row and played well in their first game back from break against Lewis & Clark. So this was a good 'W' for us."
The Trailblazers were led offensively off the bench by freshman Jalen Calloway (Chicago, Ill.) who finished with 15 points, including three made threes and three rebounds.
Sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.) got the VU offense going early, scoring all 13 of his points in the first half and finishing the game with five assists, four rebounds and a team-high three steals.
Freshman Kenaz Ochogwu (E. Providence, R.I.) had a big game in the low block, ending his night with 13 points and three rebounds.
Freshman Travelle Bryson (Anderson, S.C.) scored in double figures off the bench, providing a spark with 10 points and six rebounds.
Sophomore Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France) was the fifth VU scorer in double figures, closing the game with 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Sophomore and 2024 NJCAA All-American Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) battled tough defense all night and came away with nine points, eight rebounds and six assists."
"I don't think other teams have caught up to the fact that if you do that to us with Lebron then other guys are going to hurt them," Franklin said. "We've scored in the high 70's and 80's in a number of these games where Lebron hasn't scored a whole lot. So if they want to keep doing it that's fine because they are giving open shots to other guys. I thought we had more opportunities tonight to score even more than 82."
"If everybody wants to continue to do that, that's fine," Franklin added. "We'll be fine. We'll go out and put 80 or so on you and we like our chances. If that's the strategy everybody thinks is going to keep working, go with it. I don't think that is going to work very well and it will continue to work less because we've got guys that are all new and they are getting better and getting more comfortable."
"But it's obvious that's what they try to do with him," Franklin said. "They just attack him and double him and he gets fouled all the way up the floor. He's just got to be strong and take it and that's fine. We'll get down there and make plays. It's not something we haven't seen and it's something we've seen a lot of now so if everyone wants to keep doing it, we've had a lot of practice at it now. I thought our guys did a good job of handling it. We've got a number of guys that can handle the ball well enough that we can spread it and we have different guys who can pass it and cut, we're not just one guy. If they want to keep doing that, they are just going to make it easier for the rest."
The Trailblazers will look to continue this big winning streak when VU returns home to the Physical Education Complex Saturday, Jan. 11 to face-off against Shawnee Community College in a Region 24 doubleheader. Tip-off time for your Trailblazers is 4 p.m. eastern.
"It's just about us," Franklin said. "We don't really worry about the other team too much. It's about being solid, playing solid and doing solid things. They are a good team. They will be quick. They will play hard and they will probably do similar things that we saw tonight, scrambling, trying to attack it. We have seen just about everything this year, press, traps, zone, take this guy out, face guard, front, collapse on the post every time, don't collapse on the post at all, we really don't worry about that. We try to prepare so that whatever anybody does, we're ready to play in it. I think we are getting better at that. We'll have to play well but past that it's the same story no matter who we play."
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (82): Bryan Akanmu 4-6 2-2 10, Michael Cooper 2-7 9-13 13, Lebron Thomas 0-3 9-12 9, Dayton Williams 2-5 2-4 6, Kenaz Ochogwu 6-9 1-2 13, Christian Andrews 0-0 2-2 2, Meyoh Swansey 0-0 0-0 0, Jalen Calloway 6-10 0-0 15, Taveon Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Travelle Bryson 3-7 3-4 10, Ali Sakho 1-4 0-0 2, Hussein Elmaraghy 1-1 0-0 2, Team 25-53 28-39 82.
VU (13-3, 3-0) – 42 40 – 82
Southwestern Illinois – 29 30 – 59
Three-point goals: VU 4 (Calloway 3, Bryson). Rebounds: VU 39 (Akanmu 8, Thomas 8). Assists: VU 21 (Akanmu 6, Thomas 6). Steals: VU 7 (Cooper 3). Blocked Shots: VU 5 (Akanmu 2, Williams 2). Turnovers: VU 15. Personal Fouls: VU 19. Fouled out: None.