ROBINSON, Ill. – The Vincennes University men’s basketball team jumped up three spots in this week’s NJCAA Division I National rankings, getting back into the top-five at No. 5 this week.

VU’s first test since getting back into the top five was a short road trip to Robinson, Ill. to face off against the Lincoln Trail College Statesmen.

The Trailblazers were able to hold the Statesmen offense a bay, allowing just 52 points as VU came away with the wire-to-wire 93-52 victory.

Vincennes got off to a bit of a slow start offensively before breaking the game open with a 14-2 first half scoring run.

The Blazers would grab complete control of the game later in the first half with the help of a massive 15-0 scoring run to take a 35-14 lead.

The lead would hold as the Blazers headed into the halftime locker room break with a 42-20 advantage over the host Statesmen.

Vincennes looked to add on to their big halftime lead in the second half, outscoring Lincoln Trail 27-8 to begin the final 20 minute period to increase the lead to 69-28.

Lincoln Trail would cut into the deficit and get the VU lead down to 30 before VU responded back with a 13-0 scoring run to put the game away at 87-44.

VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin emptied his bench, not only getting all 11 active players into Wednesday night’s game, but every VU player who played Wednesday scored as VU cruised down the stretch to a big 93-52 victory over Lincoln Trail College.

“I just thought we played with more intensity, particularly defensively,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “We don’t try to make it overly complicated. But we have some real set ideas about how we are supposed to go about what we are doing, particularly on that defensive end of the floor and tonight as the game went along, especially the last 10 minutes of the first half and start of the second half, I thought our defense was much more locked in. I thought some guys showed a ‘I’m not just hoping we stop you, I’m bringing this to you’ mentality and that’s what I want to see. I think you can see the energy in the guys when they did it, it just changes.”

“That’s what makes it fun to play,” Franklin added. “That’s the message that I put across to these guys all the time. I want them to have fun playing. That’s how you have fun playing and I thought tonight, we’ve still got a ways to go, you can see runs of that and you can see differences in players. Mike, early in the game, there was a little bit of doubt and a little bit of hope on his play. But then as it went along, he got locked in on the simple fundamentals that we do and he did them aggressively and you saw the difference in the level of his play and his enjoyment of play.”

“I think we’re seeing more of that,” Franklin said. “I thought you saw more of that on both ends of the floor. Going to the glass like we meant to go get it. Some guys came in there and got some big offensive rebounds where they weren’t going in there hoping that it comes to me, no we’re going to go get it. I thought we saw some guys diving on the floor and doing some things that we’ve traditionally done and maybe haven’t done quite as well this year. I thought I saw tonight some guys starting to take hold of those things and you see what it does. It feeds on itself. Guys start liking playing together and being out there. So that’s why I thought we won and that’s why we played well and I thought that’s why most of the guys that played tonight played well. Because they gave themselves a chance to play well, not perfect, but well. The energy and intensity was right. The score didn’t matter, it’s just how did we play and I thought we took another step forward tonight and another step forward into becoming a team that might contend for some big things.”

The Trailblazers were led by sophomore Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) who ended with a team-high 16 points and six rebounds, 13 of his points coming in the first half.

ROBINSON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers 2023-24 regular season is quickly coming to a close, with VU hitting the road this week for the final two regular season games.

First coming against the Lady Statesmen of Lincoln Trail College Wednesday night in Robinson.

VU wasted little time getting going offensively, scoring the first 16 points of the game and cruising to a wire-to-wire 128-59 victory over Lincoln Trail.

The Lady Blazers hit the ground running Wednesday night, opening the game on a 16-0 scoring run and building a commanding 28-9 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play.

The run continued in the second quarter with the Blazers outscoring Lincoln Trail 27-6 to end the first half and head into the locker room leading 70-29.

VU’s offense continued to roll in the second half, ending the third quarter on an 8-0 scoring run to take a 100-46 lead into the final quarter of play.

In the fourth quarter, the Lady Blazers were able to empty the bench and put the game away for good with a 15-0 scoring run.

Vincennes closed out the game strong and cruised down the stretch to a big 128-59 victory over the Lady Statesmen.

The Lady Trailblazers spread the scoring out very well, with eight of the nine active players scoring eight or more points Wednesday night.

VU was led offensively by freshman Destinee Hooks (Indianapolis, Ind.) who picked up another double-double with 28 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds. Her fourth double-double of the season and third in the last five games.

Freshman Giavonnie Belton (Indianapolis, Ind.) came off the bench to put up 21 points along with a team-high three steals.

Sophomore Elikya Baseyila (Paris, France) ended her night with 17 points and eight rebounds.

Sophomore Katrina Litte (Valmiera, Latvia) also recorded a double-double, her second collegiate double-double with 15 points, 11 assists and five rebounds.

Sophomore Brie Miller (Bainbridge, Ind.) came off the bench to score in double figures, ending with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Sophomore Maycee Lange (Vincennes, Ind.) was the sixth VU scorer in double figures Wednesday night, ending with 13 points, eight rebounds and matching Belton’s team-high with three steals.

Freshmen Karina Scott (Noblesville, Ind.) and Makyla Tucker (Indianapolis, Ind.) each finished with eight points, with Scott adding four rebounds and three assists, while Tucker finished with seven assists.

Sophomore Najra Voloder (Konjic, Bosnia) rounded out the VU scoring, ending with four points and a team-high four blocks defensively, tying her career-high.

The Lady Trailblazers will close out the 2023-24 regular season with a very tough test against the No. 3-ranked Wabash Valley College Lady Warriors.

Vincennes will travel down to Mt. Carmel, Ill. for the regular season finale Saturday, March 2, with tip-off scheduled for 5 p.m. eastern.

Aces recognize four players on Senior Night

 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Four seniors were honored on Wednesday evening as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team wrapped up its home slate with an 85-67 loss to Indiana State.  Prior to the game, Gage Bobe, Kenny Strawbridge Jr., Antonio Thomas and Yacine Toumi were recognized before giving speeches after the contest.

Evansville was led by Kenny Strawbridge Jr., who scored 14 points while recording 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.  Tanner Cuff and Gage Bobe finished the night with 10 points apiece.  Robbie Avila led Indiana State with 35 points and 8 boards.

Bobe knocked a triple for UE’s first points of the night to make it a 3-3 game.  Ben Humrichous’ first basket of the night got UE within a point at 8-7 just over three minutes into the game before a layup by Kenny Strawbridge Jr. tied the score at 9-9.  Indiana State took control at that point, going on an 18-2 run to open a 27-11 lead with an even 11 minutes on the clock.  ISU hit four out of five 3-point attempts during the run.

Cam Haffner knocked down a jumper on the ensuing UE possession and that was the first of an Aces run that got them right back into the game.  Over the next six minutes, the Aces outscored the Sycamores by a 16-1 margin to cut the deficit to just one.  ISU missed nine shots in a row as Evansville made its comeback.  Haffner connected from downtown to get UE back within single digits at 27-18 with just over nine minutes remaining in the half.

Antonio Thomas converted a 3-point play during the run before his drive to the basket at the 5:03 mark made it a 28-27 game in favor of the Sycamores.  Over the final minutes, ISU regrouped to open a 40-31 halftime lead.

Bobe had the hot hand early in the second half, converting a 4-point play before adding a triple at the 14:59 mark to cut the ISU lead to 50-45.  ISU slowly took control, beginning with a 7-0 run that pushed the lead back into double figures.  Their advantage reached 20 for the first time with just over five minutes remaining before they finished the night with the 85-67 decision.

Yacine Toumi had a strong effort, registering 9 points and a team-high 8 caroms.  Ben Humrichous and Antonio Thomas completed the game with 7 points apiece.

ISU shot 50.8% on the night with UE shooting 38.3%.  The Sycamores out-rebounded the Aces by a 39-30 final.  Sunday’s regular-season finale at Belmont is set to tip at 4 p.m. CT.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. –  A four-run sixth inning by the #9 Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team was too much to overcome on Wednesday night for the visiting University of Evansville, as the homestanding Commodores posted a 7-3 victory over UE at Hawkins Field in Nashville, Tennessee.

“Tonight was a close game that just didn’t go our way, as we were one batter away from bringing the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll.  “We ran into some really good arms tonight, and we weren’t able to deliver as many barrels as we needed, and then I felt like we hurt ourselves in a couple of innings by just not playing clean, crisp, defensive baseball.

“I thought that we got a real warrior effort on the mound by our starter Shane Harris.  And, it was nice to see the effort by Jakob Meyer tonight as well.  That was great to see, as we really need him going forward this season.”

Vanderbilt struck first for two runs in the first inning, getting the second run just in ahead of a tag with two outs that had to be reviewed by video to confirm.  UE then got one run back in the third inning on a two-out RBI double by graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger off the wall in left field to make it a 2-1 contest.

Harris held Vanderbilt at bay after the first inning, striking out six men against just one walk while yielding the two first-inning runs on five hits over 4.0 innings of work.

The Commodores would get a run in the fifth inning after Harris left the game on a run-scoring fielder’s choice ground out to push the lead to 3-1, before breaking things open with a four-run sixth inning while using ‘small ball.’

After a one-out walk and stolen base, a single to right field put men on the corners.  Then, junior outfielder Jacob Humphrey scored a run on a bunt base hit to open the scoring.  Sophomore RJ Austin followed with an RBI single to right field, before aggressive base running on a strikeout that bounced in the dirt brought in Vanderbilt’s third run of the frame on the throw down to first base.  Junior catcher Alan Espinal then bounced a ball past a diving UE defender into left field to push the Vanderbilt lead to 7-1.

Evansville would answer back in the seventh inning on a 423-foot home run to dead center field by senior first baseman Kip Fougerousse to trim the deficit to 7-2, before staging one last rally in the ninth inning.

After a lead-off walk and a single by senior shortstop Simon Scherry, UE advanced both men to scoring position in the ninth inning on a wild pitch.  Graduate catcher Brendan Hord was then able to drive in a run on a one-out ground ball that was booted for an error.  With men on the corners and only one out, UE had the tying run in the on-deck circle, but Vanderbilt’s reliever Brennan Seiber got a strike out and a line-out to center field to end the threat and the contest.

With the victory, Vanderbilt improves to 7-3 on the season, while Evansville sees its record even at 4-4.  UE will now return home to host Purdue Fort Wayne in a four-game series beginning on Friday night at 5 p.m. at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium.