No. 21 Trailblazers unable to overcome slow start in defensive battle

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 21-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers got off to a tough start Saturday afternoon against the Greyhounds of Moberly Area Community College inside the Physical Education Complex.

Vincennes would eventually get back on track but were unable to overcome the early deficit as the Trailblazers fell to Moberly Area by the final score of 63-51.

It was a tough start to the day by the Trailblazers with Moberly Area coming out of the gates firing to build an early 22-3 lead.

Vincennes would rebound and battle back with a 14-2 scoring run to get back within seven and finished the opening half trailing by eight at 33-25.

VU looked to grab the early momentum in the second half, opening the final 20 minute period with six straight point to cut the Greyhound lead to 33-31 before Moberly Area capitalized on eight straight on their end to get the lead back to 10.

The Trailblazers continued to battle and were again able to eat into the Moberly lead late with a series of threes to cut the deficit to 55-51 but were ultimately unable to completely erase the deficit as Moberly Area closed out the 63-51 victory over the Trailblazers.

“I didn’t think we competed very well at all to start the game,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “We let them be the aggressor and we talked about it all week, so I don’t know how we could have emphasized that more. I’ll do better. But I really don’t know how I could emphasize more what this game was going to be and how they were going to play. They went exactly on the script of how I thought they would play and we just didn’t come out with anybody that was going to make any intensity early.”

“After that, on the defensive end, we were fine,” Franklin added. “There are a lot of things that we could do better but they ended up shooting 37 percent and probably shot in the low 30’s from that early run on. We out rebounded the heck out of them. We gave up one offensive rebound and there were a lot of opportunities. We outrebounded them 32 to 1 on their shots and they didn’t get very many second shots. It might be a little off but it’s not by much.”

“If you hold somebody on your home floor to 37 percent shooting, 27 percent from three and you outrebound them by 15, you should win the basketball game and you should win solidly,” Franklin said. “And those numbers are even worse for them after you get past the start of the game. If you take out the first seven or eight minutes, from that point on we had plenty of opportunities.”

Vincennes was led offensively by sophomore and 2024 NJCAA All-American Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) who closed out his night with 19 points and seven rebounds.

Freshman Jalen Calloway (Chicago, Ill.) got the Blazers offense going early and finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and a team-high three assists.

Freshman Dayton Williams was the third VU scorer in double figures, securing his second career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.) also had a big game on the boards, finishing just shy of another double-double with eight points and eight rebounds.

“They pressed, they trapped and they scrambled defensively,” Franklin added. “We had guys try to get in the high post, low post, get it swung. We tried to play with Michael being a stretch guys. So we had four guys with the floor stretched now you look to move it and find gaps. But honestly, the problem from there is that it comes down to being a basketball player making basketball plays. Because I can’t run them a set to get a layup against a zone. There are things that we will do but it was spread, it’s hit gaps, move the ball, read through the middle of the floor, break it down, get to the backsides and then make the play. We couldn’t do that.”

“I’ve got to do better obviously,” Franklin said. “But we’ve got to have someone who is going to step up and make plays. Not just talking about scoring. Who can hit a gap and make a clean pass. Draw in two defenders against a zone and make a pass, hit one more gap and then all of a sudden somebody is going to be wide open on the backside. You’ve got to be able to hit a couple of gaps sometimes against a zone and it was no different today because they were really running and overloading it and attacking it.”

“We put the five man at the high post to begin the second half but we didn’t deliver the ball to them there in the middle,” Franklin added. “And when we did, they went and did what they are not supposed to which is dribble and put your head down instead of turning and hitting the shot or turning and kicking it back out on some of the inside-out parts of it. Again it’s my fault because those are things that we go over and talk about.”

“But we had something today that I don’t think has ever happened,” Franklin said. “We had zero points from the low block. I’ve never seen it before. Anybody that knows us, we emphasize trying to get the ball in there and posting and we didn’t change that tonight. We had it spread out with the other four so we had one guy in there and if you cover that well, then there has to be someone in there that can go to work but that didn’t happen.”

“So we’ve got to find a way to do that,” Franklin added. “I’ve got to coach better because if you bring a Moberly in here and hold them to 37 percent shooting, plus 15 rebound margin and they shoot in the 20s from the three-point line, you’ve got to win the ball game. But one thing about offense is that a lot of times it’s about players. It’s the players making plays. Whether it’s to set somebody else up for a play or actually finishing the play, it’s making plays and sometimes if that doesn’t happen it can get pretty frustrating.  Today, I didn’t do a good enough job of getting guys in position to make play, I guess. But the bottom line is, we didn’t make enough plays. You can’t come out here and shoot 19 for 62 on your home floor.”

The Trailblazers will look to reset and rebound as VU prepares to play their first game away from the home gym Sunday, Dec. 1 when Vincennes heads to Olney Central College to take part in the Olney Central Classic.

Vincennes will get set to take on Mineral Area College at Olney Central College. Tip-off time for that game is set for 1 p.m. eastern.

“I’ll do the best I can to get them ready for the next one,” Franklin said. “I wasn’t really confused today. But the fact is that at some point I also wasn’t confused about the fact that we are not going to score. They were making us pass and catch and move the ball. You’ve got read middle and swing the ball and the plays will be there if you make a good basketball play. Somehow, I’ve got to be able to get us to do that in a week. I’ve got three perimeter guys out there and a four who is supposed to be a stretch type of guy. Structurally, there’s not many things that you can do there is you don’t have somebody that wants the ball inside or can hurt them in the high post.”

“I’ve got to get us more crisp and give us a better chance to do things,” Franklin added. “But at some point, we’ve got to find guys, when that happens, that are going to make plays. We didn’t make plays in the second half against Columbia State in a similar situation and we didn’t make plays today against Moberly in those situations. We’ve made plays in the other ones. So when somebody wants to push on you and hit you in the mouth a little bit, you’ve got to be able to make plays too. So we’ve got to find a way to get that to happen and we’ve got to find the people who can do that. If we don’t find the right people who can do that then we will be in that same situation.”

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (51): Bryan Akanmu 0-3 0-0 0, Michael Cooper 3-10 1-2 8, Jalen Calloway 5-15 0-0 11, Lebron Thomas 6-16 4-5 19, Dayton Williams 4-13 1-2 11, Christian Andrews 1-4 0-1 2, Meyoh Swansey 0-0 0-0 0, Kenaz Ochogwu 0-1 0-0 0, Team 19-62 6-10 51.

Moberly Area – 33   30 – 63

VU (6-2) – 25   26 – 51

Three-point goals: VU 7 (Thomas 3, Williams 2, Coper, Calloway). Rebounds: VU 45 (Williams 12). Assists: VU 10 (Calloway 3). Steals: VU 3 (Cooper, Williams, Andrews). Blocked Shots: VU 6 (Calloway 2, Williams 2). Turnovers: VU 17. Personal Fouls: VU 16. Fouled out: Akanmu.