No. 4 Trailblazers fall in overtime thriller at John A. Logan

CARTERVILLE, Ill. – The No. 4-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers hit the road Saturday afternoon for another tough Region 24 matchup against the defending NJCAA Division I National Champion John A. Logan Volunteers.

The Trailblazers looked to be rolling towards another victory midway through the second half holding a 57-42 lead over the Vols, before the Volunteers turned it on late and rode the crowd’s momentum to a 72-71 overtime victory over the Blazers.

VU looked to have possibly turned a corner early on Saturday afternoon against the Volunteers, opening the game by scoring nine of the first 12 points to hold an early six point lead.

The Volunteers responded back with a 10-2 scoring run to take their first lead of the game at 15-13.

The lead would continue to flip throughout the first half, with seven lead changes in the first half alone before the Blazers carried a five point lead into the locker room break.

After Vincennes continued to extend their lead in the second half to eight, the Volunteers answered back to cut the VU lead down to one at 39-38.

The Trailblazers would then appear to be on the brink of putting the game away after a 14-2 scoring run gave Vincennes a 57-42 lead midway through the second half.

It was at this point where the Volunteers switched to a zone defense which the Trailblazers struggled to handle.

John A. Logan used a 9-0 scoring run to cut the VU lead down to six and slowly chipped away before a pair of free throws game the Volunteers their first lead since 26-25 with just 3.3 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Trailblazers called timeout to set up a last second shot at the buzzer and were able to find an opening for sophomore Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) to put in a layup to even the score at 63-63 at the buzzer and send the game into overtime.

The Volunteers took the early lead in overtime after scoring the first basket of the period, before the two teams began trading baskets.

VU would get back within striking distance after cutting the lead down to one with just under a minute remaining.

After a pair of free throw misses by the Volunteers, Vincennes again raced down the floor looking for another last second buzzer beater but were unable to convert as the Blazers fell in overtime to the Volunteers 72-71.

“I’m very disappointed,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I’m disappointed in myself that I have not been able to find a way to get these guys to get focused and hard-edged in these moments. Because that’s what goes on. Then we quit functioning and we quit functioning all of the plays and then we start looking around and making excuses. And that’s on me. But I’m at my whit’s end. I’ve done everything. I’ve sat down, I’ve not said much, I’ve gotten after them, you name it. Because I’ve seen it and I’ve seen it time and time again.”

“So it’s my fault that I have not been a good enough coach to figure out how to make it happen,” Franklin added. “But I’m going to be really honest, I’ve tried about everything. Because this isn’t the first time. It’s a recurring theme. Then we completely stop doing what we are supposed to and are undisciplined. We quit running our stuff right on offense, we were out of position on defense. We don’t want the ball inside and we don’t have anybody outside that wants anything to do with it. So now, what do you do?”

“I’m disappointed because right now we should be 25-0,” Franklin said. “And we should be a hardened team. We’re an old team. We should be a tough and mentally tough basketball team right now and we’re not. That is 100 percent a reflection on me and that really bothers me because I detest that. We’ve lost the Olney game for sure for that reason, this game today for sure for that reason and probably the Indian Hills game. All of them we had the ball in our hands to go and win it at the end. Then we’ve had several close games where we’ve continually got to that 12 or 13 point lead and gone down. Now people throw a zone against us like it’s something difficult.”

“We know what to run against it, we know what to try to run against it, but there has to be some functioning that goes on,” Franklin added. “I don’t have an answer on who will be the answer. I don’t know who that will be and that frustrates me. Because, obviously, when you could be 25-0 and you’re right there and I think we can be a lot better than we are and I’ve thought that the whole time and that’s frustrated me. At times during practice or just going through the day-to-day, it can feel like I’m sometimes alone in that.”

“Honestly, I’m probably not going to be the answer,” Franklin said. “Because I don’t have any magic formula to wave over their heads. But then you have to work with the fact, just like today, we didn’t have anybody that’s going to hit a shot. For most of the game, we could configure it to where we didn’t have to hit a shot. It takes a lot of movement and a lot of looks to be able to do that when the other team is not going to respect that. We were able to do that against a man, but when we get against a zone, it’s a little tougher. But we could still get the shot. We got the ball inside and things opened up and things were there. We come off a screen and have an elbow jumper there that’s broke down. There were opportunities there, even though we were stale with it. But I can’t just manipulate it completely. You can do things that cause you to have some advantages. But with a 15 points lead, if we just guard down the stretch, we just started sticking on screens.”

“But again, who is the leader,” Franklin added. “I don’t want to get frustrated. If you’ve watched me, I’ve been sitting as much as I can hoping that maybe that would help. But then there a point where the competitor in you is going to say, ‘wait a minute’. But neither seems to elicit the proper response right now, so many we just can’t do it. I hope that we can. I think we can. I think it should be very doable to do what you need to do to finish this game out with a win. But maybe we can’t. Maybe that’s a bridge too far.”

The Trailblazers were led offensively by freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) who finished with 24 points and a team-high eight rebounds and four assists.

Sophomore Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) got the offense going early, scoring 13 first half points to finish with a season-high 22 points and five rebounds.

Sophomore Ryan Oliver was the third VU scorer in double figures, ending with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Sophomore Karyiek Dixon (Enfield, London, UK) also pitched in with seven points and three rebounds for Vincennes.

The Trailblazers will look to bounce back when VU returns home to the Physical Education Complex Wednesday, Feb. 21 when Vincennes hosts Southwestern Illinois College at 7 p.m. eastern.

“I want to see the same thing that I want to see every day, I want to see them working with urgency, I want to see them working with some excitement and intensity,” Franklin said. “But all that’s fine. It’s what are you going to do when those lights come on on game night and you need to do all of those things to get yourself sharpe.”

“But we’ve practiced against everything we’re seeing and handled it,” Franklin added. “I thought we were manipulating them. I thought defensively we had them most of the night where they weren’t scoring very many points and then we just kind of stopped. Then we start looking around and start making excuses for the same actions that we’ve been dealing with all game. I don’t want to see that. I want to see us get hard-edged, get down and want to compete. But maybe that’s just not our personality. Maybe that’s just not who we are. So there is where the clash comes in as a coach, I’ve coached those types of guys forever and I like to think that I’m that kind of guy and I just can’t seem to get this team to be that kind of team.”

“They will play somewhat,” Franklin said. “But that hard edge mentality, if we don’t get it then we have no chance of doing the things that we’ve talked about. And if we would have had more of it by now, we would be 25-0. I don’t think anybody can argue that. I’m very frustrated because I would like us to get to do that and obviously, I want that to happen and I’ve thrown about every tactic there is at it at this point. Who’s on the bench, who’s playing, well if somebody will do it, they will get to play. It’s who is going to be those guys in the moment instead of the blank face looks we’ve been getting. Which, again, I don’t want that.”

“If you’ve been around the last few weeks, you’ve seen that I’m going to let them step up and I’m going to analytically try and take it,” Franklin added. “I, probably, down the stretch got a little more fired up about some things but nothing crazy. But until they want to do it and they look in the mirror and have some hard discussions with themselves, it’s not going to happen. Maybe it can’t happen and if it can’t happen then maybe I am expecting too much from them. Those are the options here. Until they get tired enough of this to grit their teeth and find another gear, this is what’s going to keep happening.”

“We had that happen last week, that’s why we had 60 points twice,” Franklin said. “It’s the same stuff that causes it. But we’ll see. Obviously, if we ever find a way to get another gear and another concentration level, we can win all of our games and we can beat everybody we play. It’s there in front of them. But it just seems to be a little hard for them right now. I wish I had another answer to give to them. But I don’t. Because that’s the type of hard thing that you are going to have to get over if you are going to be a champ instead of a team that just won some games. That’s one of the prices that you have to pay to be a champion. That’s why being a champion is a really, really special thing. It’s not something that just gets handed to you and right now we haven’t crossed that line to where you’ll be champions. Hopefully we can but if we keep giving opportunities away, opportunities quit happening.”