CENTRALIA, Ill. – The No. 16 ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers hit the road again Wednesday night, heading to Centralia, Ill. for another tough Region 24 road showdown with Kaskaskia College.
The Trailblazers got off to an early lead but were unable to put the game away as VU had to come up clutch at the free throw line late to come away with an 85-81 victory over the Blue Devils.
The Trailblazers got off to another excellent start Wednesday night, jumping out to an early 12-2 lead over the Blue Devils.
Kaskaskia would fight back and cut the VU lead down to five at 30-25 before the Blazers got a couple of big shots late in the first half to get the lead back to 42-29 at the halftime break.
Coming out in the second half the Blazers looked to put the game away early and expanded the lead to 58-42.
Kaskaskia once again answered back, getting the ball to go down and ride the home crowd momentum and got the VU lead back down to single digits at 60-52.
Vincennes would keep the Blue Devils at a distance for most of the final stretch of the game before Kaskaskia used a late 7-1 scoring run to get within three with under two minutes to play.
VU was able to hold off the Blue Devils at the free throw line, coming away with the 85-81 victory over Kaskaskia College.
“Kaskaskia deserved to win,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “They played harder, tougher, more disciplined. Appeared to be better coached than our ball club. I’m very bothered right now. There’s a lot that’s put into this and these guys are also representing the guys that have played before. We’re supposed to be about something. Win, lose, I can handle whatever. But we were not about getting down in a defensive stance, fighting a screen or being strong and protecting the ball. This team has turned the ball over too much all year and we’ve tried to get it down and we’ve emphasized that the last couple of days and I could see no evidence of that tonight that anyone had taken that to heart.”
“Just really, really bothered by tonight’s effort,” Franklin added. “This would be bad if it happened in the middle of November. For the second half, they really got disciplined and really went after us. We’ll make them guard this and see if they ever stand up and we did not. We just hoped that somehow it would work out for us tonight. We did not try to stop anybody. So I’ve obviously done a poor job. We worked on how to fight through screens and I didn’t see anything tonight that looked like we’ve practiced it.”
The Trailblazers were led offensively by sophomore and 2024 NJCAA All-American Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) who finished with 20 points and a team-high 10 assists to notch his third double-double of the season.
Freshman Dayton Williams (Louisville, Ky.) battled early foul trouble to come away with 15 points, including hitting three big threes for the Blazers.
Sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.) also came away Wednesday night with another double-double, finishing his night with 14 points and 10 rebounds and hitting a perfect 12 of 12 from the free throw line.
Sophomore Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France) was the fourth Trailblazer scorer in double figures Wednesday night, finishing the game with 12 points, three rebounds and three assists.
“We’ve won a bunch of games so far this season, I guess we just aren’t going to play with any toughness,” Franklin said. “Because it was pretty evident what was going on for really the last 30 minutes of the game. We had a little spurt late in the first half where we hit some shots and hit some early in the second half. But if we had not done that, we would have lost this game. I knew it, I could see it and I just couldn’t find anybody.”
“We had guys that get their opportunity, get in the game and they are not about that life,” Franklin added. “We said, ‘this is why you are going in’ and they might hit a shot or something but they weren’t about that. If you want to be a champion or just know that I gave everything that I had, that’s what this is about. And that just didn’t happen. If you want to play, there were a lot of guys out here to played tonight, but did they really guard. Did they fight a screen? Did they fire back and get a box out? I didn’t see one all night. I saw us getting bullied and getting pushed underneath the goal. I saw us sticking on every screen of any type. I’ve got guys that are talking about being Division I players who can’t handle the ball without turning it over, can’t handle any kind of screen and won’t get in a stance.”
“I’ve been very positive about this team,” Franklin said. “I told everybody that I thought that we were on the move and going forward and I really meant that. But I’m also going to be honest right now. That was a very, very alarming effort and I don’t like leaving the gym feeling like we didn’t deserve to win. That hasn’t happened a whole lot over the years with our teams. But I did not feel like we deserved to win tonight.”
The Trailblazers will look to keep their 12 game winning streak going this weekend when VU hits the road again Saturday, Feb. 1 to take on John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill. at 4 p.m. eastern.
Vincennes will then return home to the P.E. Complex Wednesday, Feb. 5 when VU hosts Lincoln Trail College at 7 p.m. eastern.
“I’m looking for the same things I looked for going into tonight,” Franklin said. “The same things that we’ve looked for out of our teams for the last 28 years. And if you came to Vincennes and you came to play for this team, then you should have come here to guard somebody. You should have come in here to fight over some screens. You should have come here to box out and learn to be strong and tough with the ball and not just give the ball up. You should be a guy that beats everybody up and down the floor. That’s what our team has been and anybody that has competed against us will say that.”
“I have great, great love and admiration for the players that have played for us,” Franklin added. “I’ve never hidden that. But they all earned it. There are good days and bad days and times where they had to learn. But you go into February right now, we should not be being outplayed by anybody. So what do I want to see between now and Saturday? The same thing I wanted to see coming into tonight. The same thing I wanted to see when I signed these guys. Our standard is our standard. We’ve had more success than anybody and we’ve had better guys and they have gone on to do better things. I’m very disappointed that we had a group of young men out here tonight that I don’t think tried to live up to that standard. That’s on me, it’s my team. But if anyone is confused about what my message is, or what my message has been, it’s the same message that I’ve given for the last 28 years.”
