No. 6 Trailblazers pull away late in win over Harry S. Truman

CHICAGO, Ill. – The No. 6-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers overcame some early struggles Saturday afternoon against Harry S. Truman College before pulling away late in the second half to pick up the 94-60 victory at Richard J. Daley College.

Vincennes looked to set the tone early, jumping out to an early 14-8 lead, before extending to their largest lead of the half at 28-17.

Harry S. Truman battled back to cut the deficit to five before VU closed out the first half on a 4-0 run to take a nine-point lead into the locker room, 34-25.

The short-handed Falcons, who only had five active players, looked to make a run to start the second half, but a 17-4 scoring run by the Trailblazers ballooned the VU lead to 70-44.

The Trailblazers found a group on the floor that worked as VU used a late 8-0 run to seal the game as VU pulled away to a 94-60 win, their 14th straight victory to begin the season.

“I thought we were pretty sloppy for 25 minutes,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “Plus you combine sloppy with not being able to hit shots, so at some point we have to find somebody that can hit shots. In the last 15 minutes we hit some shots. We got a little sharper and quit subbing. We found a group, stayed with that group and that group responded better. We still have a lot of room to go, but it was better.”

“Hats off to Truman,” Franklin added. “They played hard. Coach Cooksey had them ready to play. They did what they could. They stretched us. They had some guys that can do some things with the ball and hurt you and the other guys can hit a shot if you come off of them and they played to that all night.”

“We just didn’t put the ball in the basket or move the ball clean and sharp for the first 25 minutes,” Franklin said. “There’s a lot of room to improve on the last 15 minutes, but the last 15 I thought we were better. I stopped subbing. I found a group that I thought gave me a positive vibe and I stayed with that group. Sometimes it wasn’t perfect. Sometimes it wasn’t great. But it was positive and it’s amazing what happens.”

Vincennes was led offensively by sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) who came through with a big second half, scoring 23 of his game-high 27 points in the final period of play.

Johnson also recorded his first double-double of his Trailblazer career with 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Sophomore Tasos Cook (Columbus, Ohio) finished with 21 points, while also dishing out a team-high six assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Freshman Kale Gaither (Madisonville, Ky.) came off the bench to reach double-figures, ending with 11 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Freshmen Kris King (Washington, D.C.) and Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) each just missed a double-double, with Osei-Bonsu ending with nine points and 10 rebounds and King ending with nine points and nine rebounds off the bench.