No. 6 VU closes out first half of the season with big win over Southwest Tennessee

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 6-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers closed out the first half of their season and head into the Holiday break on a high note after picking up an 80-60 win over Southwest Tennessee Community College.

The Trailblazers set the tone early in the final game before the Holiday break, jumping out to a quick 21-6 lead over the Saluqis.

Vincennes would grab their largest lead of the first half at 16 points before Southwest Tennessee looked to rally back into the game.

The Saluqis were able to cut the deficit to 10 but were unable to get the VU lead back down to single digits before VU closed out the first half with a 43-27 lead on the scoreboard.

Vincennes continued to add to their lead coming out of the halftime break by outscoring Southwest Tennessee 16-4 to start the second half.

VU would get their largest lead of the game of 73-37 midway through the second half before VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin turned the game over to his bench.

Southwest Tennessee continued to battle however and slowly chipped away at the Vincennes lead, ultimately outscoring the Blazers 23-7 to close out the game.

The comeback was not enough though, as VU ended the first two months of the season by picking up their 16th win of the season by the final score of 80-60.

“Our original grouping of guys did a pretty good job overall in both halves,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “Then we would get a little spurt-y when some other guys would come in. But when you get outscored like we did at the end, that’s not the way to send me into the Holidays.”

“But when you play everybody, sometimes it’s unfair to the guy that was doing a pretty good job,” Franklin added. “Because the overall taste after the game when some other guys come in and don’t do, but I know that. We had some guys come in and do a good job tonight.”

The Trailblazers were led offensively by sophomore Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) who paced the Blazers with 18 points, three rebounds and a team-high five assists.

Freshman Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) recorded his third double-double of the season Tuesday, ending with 12 points and a team-high 12 rebounds on the night.

Freshman Karyiek Dixon (London, England) was the third VU scorer in double-figures, finishing his night with 10 points and five rebounds.

Freshman Kale Gaither (Madisonville, Ky.) came off the bench to score eight points, including a pair of three’s, while also dishing out three assists.

Freshman Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) made some big hustle plays in the first half to end with six points, six rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.

“Caleb, as usual, did a good job,” Franklin said. “Caleb was a good player tonight. He’s been a good player most every night. I thought Ryan was pretty good tonight in what we think he is going to be. I thought he was pretty solid in what he was doing. Tasos, at times, I thought he fought the screens and then he would have a breakdown occasionally. When he fought through the ball screen tonight it really caused them problems and I thought he did that decently.”