Thomas scores 29 as No. 5 Trailblazers win over Malcolm X College

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 5 ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers hosted the middle game of their three-game home stand this week as VU hosted Malcolm X College from Chicago, Ill. in the Physical Education Complex Thursday night.

The Trailblazers defeated the Hawks 91-57 behind 29 big points by freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.), including 18 points in the first half.

Vincennes got off to a good start Thursday against Malcolm X, jumping out to an early 9-4 lead, before the Hawks came back to cut the VU lead down to one after converting a four-point play.

Vincennes would get their lead back to seven before the Hawks used a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the night at 20-18.

VU again responded in front of the home crowd, outscoring Malcolm X 12-2 to take a 30-22 lead before trading baskets for the rest of the half to head into the locker room holding a 37-27 advantage over the visiting Hawks.

Coming out of the halftime break, the Trailblazers looked to put more distance on the scoreboard, outscoring Malcolm X 12-4 to begin the second half of play.

The Hawks would continue to hang around but were unable to cut into the VU lead as the Trailblazers grew their advantage to 26 points at 73-47 midway through the second half.

Malcolm X would attempt a late scoring run, scoring seven unanswered, but were only able to cut the VU lead to 19 before the Trailblazers would go on to close out the game outscoring the Hawks 18-3 and take home the 91-57 victory over Malcolm X College.

“I want to credit Malcolm X,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I thought they came in here and played really hard. I thought they had a plan. They’ve been struggling a little bit but they’ve been playing good teams and I think they came in here knowing they needed to play really well to not get beat up on and I thought that they did a really good job. I thought Coach White did a really good job with them and they made us be sharp to be good and in the first half we weren’t very sharp.”

“But credit to Malcolm X,” Franklin added. “They did a really good job. Lebron got going in the first half to give us some offense. I thought we were a little better offensively in the second half but there’s still a ways to go. I went with a little bit of an older and smaller group. Without Michael tonight, to find a rhythm, I thought that we needed to do that.”

“I thought we were searching to find a rhythm tonight,” Franklin said. “They did and I thought we got a little bit better but obviously we’ve got to get this thing turned back up over the next 48 hours. It’s a continuation of what I saw and now you know once you go down that rabbit hole, I think everybody understands why I was where I was. There were all kinds of little things that we’ve kind of let slip and then it kind of gets you out of whack. Then you add Michael not being in there and Malcolm X did a good job.”

“They did a good job of trying to stay in front of us and mixing those defenses,” Franklin added. “Trying to be patient on offense. Trying to attack people at the right places and get into the lane. I thought that’s what was going on tonight and now we’ll see what happens over the next 48 hours to get us going again, reenergized and refocused, recalibrated. That’s just part of the normal JuCo season.”

The Trailblazers were led offensively by 29 points by freshman Lebron Thomas, including hitting 14 free throws and coming away with a team-leading three steals on the night.

Sophomore Kent King (Washington, D.C.) just missed out on a double-double Thursday night, ending with 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Sophomore Kris King (Washington, D.C.) matched his brother’s offensive output Thursday, ending with 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Sophomore Victor Lado (Louisville, Ky.) came off the bench late to score in double-figures for the first time this season, ending with 10 points and six rebounds for the Blazers.

Sophomore Karyiek Dixon (Enfield, London, UK) ended his night with eight points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

“I thought Lebron was pretty essential for us in the first half because we were just dead in the water,” Franklin said. “We didn’t really have anybody inside that wanted to get it and score it. We shied away from open jump shots. We would have an open shot and then we would drive into trouble. When that happens, it’s never good. I thought that was going on, so Lebron had to kind of force his offense a little bit to get us going. In the second half, I think he was forcing his offense a little too much. He ended up with no assists and five turnovers.”

“He was able to get out of that mindset and we were able to flow a little bit better in the second half,” Franklin added. “But that’s part of the learning process for him. But he had to give us some offense in the first half or we weren’t going to score.”

“We went to the smaller group and we got in more of a rhythm,” Franklin said. “But it took us a little bit of time there because we haven’t done much with Kris at the four this year. He played there last year but we’ve been trying to work with these other guys and get him used to being a three.”

“I tried to get some guys in there and play a little bit in the first half,” Franklin added. “We’re just having a hard time when we do that. It’s throwing us out of sync and obviously that’s not going to be the case on Saturday night. We are going to play what we have to to win the game. But these guys have to start stepping up a little bit in these opportunities.”

“I thought Victor, later in the night, did,” Franklin said. “And we’ll see if he grows from that. We’re trying to get Victor to be a bit more physical and tougher down there and we need another guy. Obviously, we needed another guy tonight without Michael. But we need another guy and I think that Victor can do it and Victor needs to do it for Victor. It’s going to be a career changer for him. I’m not doubting that Victor wants to do it but he’s just got to step across that line and it’s hard to do sometimes. We’ll see if he can do it Saturday because we need another big to step up and play physical and I thought later tonight he did. He was rebounding more physically. He was posting more physically and we’ve got to see if he can grow over the next 48 hours and see if he can help us Saturday”

The Trailblazers will close out their week with a big NJCAA Division I Top-10 showdown against No. 7-ranked Indian Hills Community College from Ottumwa, Iowa Saturday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. eastern and will serve as homecoming for your VU Trailblazers.

“Over the last 40 or 50 years, I don’t think you can have more of a marquee matchup of two blue bloods,” Franklin said. “Indian Hills didn’t really come into being until the early to mid-80’s. They weren’t as far back being at that level but once they came on that scene, we go a little further back. But from the early to mid-80’s, the modern day of JuCo basketball, these are as blue of bloods as you are going you can be.”

“This is Kentucky and Kansas, Duke-North Carolina, whoever you want to say, that is what this is in a JuCo version,” Franklin added. “So anytime that these two programs step onto the floor, it’s a special evening and hopefully we take advantage of that here, get people out here and give us some energy. I think our team needs some energy right now. It’s just part of it and we should get energy at home. That’s part of college basketball. Home court advantage is a huge thing because of that energy and it’s part of what propels us and it’s one of the reasons why the blue bloods are the blue bloods. When they play at home, they have great home courts and people want to come play for those programs because they get those great home courts.”

“Quite frankly, right now, we don’t quite have that like we should,” Franklin said. “I thought we got a decent crowd in here for the Monroe game. It was better, the energy was better and you saw that it led to better energy from our team. But this should be all hands on deck in here making noise. You can’t have a bigger, traditional matchup of the blue bloods than Vincennes and Indian Hills right now.”

“I’ve said this over and over, I’m the crazy man that scheduled this game for homecoming,” Franklin added. “To give all of us this real product and this event here at home. I hope we have a great effort from our team. I think our guys will try. But we need a great effort from the fans and I think that if we get a great effort from the fans, I bet it helps us give a great effort.”

BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (91) – Damarien Yates 0-2 0-0 0, Kris King 6-9 2-2 17, Karyiek Dixon 4-10 0-1 8, Kent King 5-11 6-6 17, Lebron Thomas 7-14 14-19 29, Gerard Thomas 1-2 0-0 2, Mathieu Nader-Kalombo 2-4 1-2 6, Alphonse Muteba 0-0 0-2 0, Ryan Oliver 1-4 0-0 2, Victor Lado 4-7 2-2 10, Team 30-63 25-34 91.

Malcolm X – 27   30 – 57

VU (6-0) – 37   54 – 91

Three-point goals: VU 6 (Kr. King 3, Ke. King, L. Thomas, Nader-Kalombo). Rebounds: VU 39 (Ke. King 9). Assists: VU 20 (Oliver 6). Steals: VU 13 (Dixon 3, Ke. King 3, L. Thomas 3). Blocked Shots: VU 3 (Dixon 2). Turnovers: VU 10. Personal Fouls: VU 22. Fouled out: VU G. Thomas. Technical Fouls: VU G. Thomas (2 – 5:53).