Trailblazers close out first week of the season with wire-to-wire win over Columbia State

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer men’s basketball team picked up their third win of the season Saturday night leading the entire way over Columbia State Community College 76-51 in the final game of the Kiwanis Classic.

The Trailblazers wasted little time grabbing the early momentum Saturday night, jumping out to a quick 16-8 lead.

Vincennes would extend their lead to 12 before Columbia State hit a late free throw to head into the locker room trailing 36-25.

VU took complete control of the game in the second half, using a 16-3 scoring run to jump out to a 21-point lead.

Vincennes would continue to add to their lead throughout the game as VU closed out their third win in five days with a 76-51 win over Columbia State.

“I thought this was a nice win,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I thought the win Tuesday night against Kankakee was a nice win. We’ve got three Division I wins this week. There are not a whole lot of teams in the country that have more than that.”

“We were tested in a lot of ways tonight that our team had not seen,” Franklin added. “Columbia State was big, strong and physical. The press you defensively, they force you to make shots, they break you down. They are really physical on the glass. They may be as good of a rebounding team as we will face this year. The rebounds were even tonight, which we never want to be even rebounding the ball, so that was a battle of strength and strength.”

“I’m proud of our guys,” Franklin said. “I thought we had a good week. There are a lot of things that we have to get better, but I think if you watch this team, you can see where it looks a lot like the nine years before last year here. It looks like the last 23 or 24 years before last year that I’ve had as a coach. I see the progression, it’s just whether they keep their eye on the prize or not. Which so far it looks like they are and hopefully they will. If they do then this team has tremendous potential because we’re new. We are still learning. They are learning every little thing right now. We’ve got a long way to go to get as good as this team could be. If this team can get near as good as they could be, I think we can contend with anybody.”

VU was led offensively by a big outside shooting night by freshman Kris King (Washington, D.C.). King would hit six out of seven three-point shots on his way to a team-high 18 points. King also played a big role defensively for the Blazers, finishing with three steals on the night.

Sophomore Tasos Cook (Columbus, Ohio) picked up where he left off last night, scoring 10 of his 17 points in the first half, while also matching King’s three steals defensively.

Sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) was the third VU scorer to reach double figures, ending the night with10 points and four rebounds.

Sophomore Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) and freshman Kent King (Washington, D.C.) rounded out the VU starting lineup Saturday night, with Jackson ending with eight points, six rebounds and three blocks, with King finishing with six points, six rebounds and four assists.

Freshmen James Locke IV (Spencer, Okla.) and Kale Gaither (Madisonville, Ky.) did the bulk of the scoring off the bench for Vincennes Saturday, with Locke adding eight points and three assists, while Gaither finished with seven points, a team-high five assists and three rebounds.