Johnson’s double-double leads No. 9 Blazers to big win over Harry S. Truman

VINCENNES, Ind. – Vincennes University sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) recorded his second double-double in his Trailblazer career Saturday night as the Blazers won 116-64 over Harry S. Truman College.

Johnson’s 25 points and 12 rebounds were good enough to match his 27-point, 10-rebound double-double earlier this season against the Falcons in Chicago.

The Trailblazers’ 116 points Saturday night is the most by a VU team against an NJCAA Division I opponent since Jan. 30, 2019, when VU scored 122 at Southeastern Illinois.

Vincennes overcame a slow start after not playing for close to three weeks but managed to quickly shake off the rust to take a 21-8 lead with a 12-0 scoring run.

VU continued to ride the momentum through the end of the first half, outscoring Truman 15-3 to close out the opening 20 minutes of play and take a 49-24 lead into the locker room.

The Trailblazers looked to put the game away early in the second half and built on their lead with a 15-2 scoring run to take an 81-42.

Vincennes emptied the benches late as all 13 active players got into the game and VU cruised late with a 17-3 scoring run to come away with the 116-64 victory.

“I thought we played pretty well for the situation of coming back off of a break against a team we thought we would beat,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I thought we were pretty crisp. Having only three turnovers and 116 points, those things are hard to do. You don’t have that very often when you have that many possessions and you only turn it over three times. That’s always going to be a positive.”

“I thought we were alright defensively in the first half,” Franklin added. “I thought Ryan did a really good job on Hammons in the first half. Second half he didn’t guard him as much and he relaxed a little bit when he did and Hammons got off on us as the game went on. Hammons is a good player, but that first half you could tell that Ryan was playing him the way he was supposed to play him with the intensity you need and was able to hold him down.”

“We are starting to find our rotation of guys and I thought that helped our rhythm,” Franklin said. “You get the guys who are playing sharp and playing together and those are the ones that are out there most of the time, I think you saw the difference. I thought we were crisper with the ball. I thought we finished better. But we also had the guys out there that finished better in the first half and it’s more concentrated now.”

“Obviously Hammons went off on us in the second half and got some points but I thought other than that we were pretty clean for right now,” Franklin added. “We’ll see moving forward. We have to sync it up and get ready for two huge road games coming up that if we can get them will put us in great position, but they are hard to get.”

VU was led offensively by sophomore Caleb Johnson who ended with 25 points, 19 of which coming in the second half and a new VU career-high of 12 rebounds for his second Trailblazer double-double. Both coming against Harry S. Truman.

Freshman Kris King (Washington, D.C.) was the first man off the bench for the Trailblazers and did not disappoint on his way to 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Sophomores Tasos Cook (Columbus, Ohio) and Trenton Johnson (South Bend, Ind.) each finished with 14 points, with Cook adding seven assists and Johnson connecting on four of eight shooting from three-point range.

Freshman Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) was the fifth VU scorer in double-figures with 11 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Freshman Kale Gaither (Madisonville, Ky.) came off the bench and nearly picked up a double-double of his own, ending with nine points, a team-high eight assists and five rebounds.

Freshman James Locke IV (Spencer, Okla.) came off the bench late to score eight points, including hitting two of three from behind the arc.

“I thought the best thing about Caleb tonight was the fact that he didn’t have it in the first half,” Franklin said. “He didn’t have much rhythm on his shot and then he was able to correct himself during the game, which a lot of time guys can’t do. Then once he got that, he changed the rhythm on his shot and got it back to where it was supposed to be and he was very effective shooting the ball and finishing after he corrected himself. When you have that discipline to when it’s not rolling to go back and focus on the fundamentals and get it back online bodes well for him.”

“I thought we were just pretty crisp and clean for the most part,” Franklin added. “We’ve still got things to clean up after our first game back after about two and a half weeks. But to come back and only give up three turnovers, it’s hard to play for a couple of hours, going up and down that floor and function. Those five guys for Truman, they put you in different spots and they try different defenses. Like I said after we played them the first time, I thought they could stretch you and do some things and they went out an won right after we played them. I’m not surprised. They do a great job for the situation they’ve been thrown into and they’ve got one really good player. Hammons is a really good player. If you don’t guard him right, you see what can happen. He’s making tough shots and they tried and they made us get out there, move around and guard and stretch the floor and I thought it was good experience for the big guys who won’t always be in that position.”

“I thought everybody got out there and got something done tonight,” Franklin said. “I think we shot it pretty well but we made some adjustments to where we are playing the guys who did shoot it well in the first half of the year. That’s who was out there, so it sort of works out that way that we shot it a little better out there tonight. I thought offensively we were pretty clean for this game and what we had to do. We’ll see what this does moving forward. We will give them tomorrow off, it’s the first day off in a while and hopefully they are back in the gym anyway because they need to be in here working and we’ll get back at it Monday morning with strength training in the morning and try to get two great days Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully we can get some fans to come over to Robinson and give us some support in what is a big game and a short drive Wednesday night. Hopefully we have a lot of Blazer fans come to that one because it will be the best game of the week in the Region and it’s got big National and District implications and a big opportunity for us to get a road win. So we would appreciate some help.”

“As I said in the pregame show tonight, late in the semester in December I didn’t think Kris was in the gym working the way he needed to,” Franklin added. “And his game wasn’t quite where it needed to be. But I thought over the break he responded and had a pretty good break. I thought he was pretty sharp in practice and was focused in. You could see some things changing. He was staying after and was in the gym shooting and doing some things that maybe weren’t happening before the break. I thought he had a pretty good break. We’ve been back since the 28th, so we’ve been back for a little bit and you could see it and I’m glad that showed up tonight in success on the court.”

“Kris can really help us, there’s no question,” Franklin said. “That’s why we went to him in the first semester most of the time but you’ve got to respond and he responded at times but late in the semester he didn’t. Now he’s in the next stage of life. He’s had to respond to a little bit of adversity when it comes to that and I thought he’s done a pretty good job and it showed up tonight.”

The remaining 12 games in the VU regular season are all against Region 24 opponents, beginning Wednesday, Jan. 11 when Vincennes makes the short trip to Robinson, Ill. to face off against Lincoln Trail College. Tip-off time for the Trailblazers is set for 8 p.m. eastern.

“The bottom line is that we are just worried about ourselves,” Franklin said. “We know how we are supposed to play and we can only control ourselves. I thought we had some improving to do over the break and I thought we did some and I think we’ve got some improving to do between now and Wednesday. We could be a good basketball team. We are 17 and 1 for a reason. 5 and 1 in the district for a reason. We’ve played three tough road games and won two of them, which is what you have to do if you want to win it. If we can come back and get Wednesday and Monday at Southwestern Illinois, we would really be in pretty good shape making that turn after those eight games.”

“We’ve just got to keep improving,” Franklin added. “It’s nothing but the basics of how we play. We have a way that we play. We have a way that we teach things. There are the fundamentals involved in what we do. They’ve been through it enough now to where they know. They know what they are supposed to be working on. They know what works for us and they know what doesn’t. They’ve been through it. They’ve felt it. They know what they need to come into the gym and work on. That’s about all we could ask for with a new team coming into this second half of the year. Now it’s how bad to do you want it because they are not confused anymore.”

“Our guys know what their roles are and what they are going to be asked to do in a game and the fundamentals it takes to go out there and do it,” Franklin said. “Hopefully we just keep hardening up. There not going to be anything earth shattering beyond that. We do it, play with some energy, get some energy in that ball where it moves sharp and crisp, when we are doing that and hitting gaps and moving the ball, pushing the ball down the floor and get good spacing, we are hard to guard. Then crashing the glass after that, we are hard to keep off the glass. If we get out there and guard the way we are supposed to and really put that effort into it then we are not always the easiest team to score on. If we can do that for 40 minutes, I like our chances against anybody. But if we do that and we get beat, that’s the best we can do, we’ll come back the next day and try to get better. That’s the mindset that I want our guys to have and I think we are starting to take that on but we’ll see in a hostile environment Wednesday night.”