No. 6 Trailblazers close out regular season with big win on Sophomore Night

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Men's Basketball team climbed one spot this week in the final NJCAA Division I National rankings to No. 6, while still holding their position at No. 3 in the JUCO Advocate Media Poll and Nielsen File Top 25 Rankings.

The Blazers got their first opportunity to defend this new ranking Tuesday night in the regular season finale against Kaskaskia College from Centralia, Ill.

The Trailblazers rode the home crowd early gained momentum and built an early lead as the Blazers rolled in the second half to a big 101-55 victory over the Blue Devils on Sophomore Night.

Vincennes got the game started early, opening the scoring strong and quickly building a 16-4 advantage over the visiting Blue Devils.

VU would continue to add to this lead building the largest lead of the half late at 46-29 before Kaskaskia picked up a late basket to cut the deficit to 15 going into the halftime break.

Coming out in the second half the Trailblazers were again the first to strike, using an early 11-0 scoring run to build their lead to 66-38.

Vincennes was able to put the game away down the stretch with a big 14-0 scoring run to take a commanding 91-48 lead, before using another 8-0 scoring run late to close out the game by the final score of 101-55, picking up VU's 20th consecutive victory this season.

"I thought we had a good team effort," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "I thought we got off to a pretty good start because we were shooting the ball in and we were defending pretty good. Then we got a little wonky the last 10 minutes of the first half that I didn't like. I thought we let them dictate terms a little bit. Still were up 15 at the half but those last 10 minutes we didn't show the sharpness, the intensity, the confidence that you've got to have this time of year and I expressed that at halftime."

"Second half I thought we did all of that," Franklin added. "I thought in the second half we played really hard, we made it really difficult for them when they had the ball. We were fighting screens and had active hands. We got some knock aways without gambling. Because our intensity was up, offensively we looked confident. They were extending that zone and giving you some funky looks with it and on those you have to be confident because they are basically saying you have to go downhill. When you start being unconfident and playing sideways it plays right into what they want."

"Christian Andrews has to step up," Franklin said. "There were times in the first half where he was giving you the freshman hesitancy look and we told him 'hey, you can't do that.' I thought after that and in the second half he was assured, he was strong, he was tough and he was ready. And we are going to need him to be that next week. These guys should be able to take that and take it into next week because that's the key."

"When it's all said and done, we'll go as far as we can go," Franklin added. "Hopefully we're the last ones standing. But what you want to do is make sure that you've gone at it as aggressively, as confidently, as smartly and as tough as you can. That's what I try to train them to do and preach that all year long and I can be a little rough on them when they don't because I know they are going to regret that for the rest of their life if they don't. I know this and they can't win what they want to win and do what they want to do if they don't do it. If you fall short, you want to know that you laid it all out there. You can live with that for the rest of your life, that's fine. I thought the second half tonight was much more an example of what we are looking for in terms of that. I thought it was much better and across the board, everybody that played in that second half from start to finish, it's not perfect and it will never be perfect, but I thought our attitude, intensity and confidence on both ends was what I was looking for."

The Trailblazers were led offensively by freshman Travelle Bryson (Anderson, S.C.) who got the VU offense going early, getting 11 first half points on his way to 26 on the night with six made three-pointers and seven rebounds.

Freshman Dayton Williams (Louisville, Ky.) rode a big second half on his way to 17 points and a team-high three steals in the game.

Sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.) came off the bench to add 13 points and six rebounds, including shooting a perfect eight for eight at the free throw line.

Freshman Meyoh Swansey (Olympia Fields, Ill.) also scored in double figures off the bench, finishing his night with 12 points and five rebounds.

Sophomore Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France) was the fifth VU double figure scorer Tuesday night, finishing off another double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Tuesday marked the final home game for VU's five sophomores, Bryan Akanmu, Michael Cooper, Ali Sakho (Toronto, Ontario), Hussein Elmaraghy (Cairo, Egypt) and 2024 NJCAA All-American Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.).

Thomas being the lone sophomore from last season's VU Sweet Sixteen team that finished the season with a 30-4 record and won the Region 24 regular season and tournament championships.

"Meyoh has fought and battled and he's had to improve," Franklin said. "That's what this is. Sometimes it works out better for you early and sometimes it doesn't. Meyoh has kept working and improving. We always thought he could be a good player, we think all of these players can be good players and Meyoh has come on here. He's a guy that can really help us in the playoffs. He's got good quickness, he's got good range. He's a guy that will play hard, got really good bounce. So he brings a pop, an energy, a snap that you need and can be really big for us in this next week. So I was pleased to see him take another one of these games, another step these last three or four. You are seeing his opportunities and we really wanted to see that coming into this game and going into next week because now it's really real."

"Travelle shot it well early," Franklin added. "He kind of went dead in the water the second 10 minutes of the first half. I thought his energy was better. His defense in the second half was better. His defense in the last 10 minutes of the first half, he was letting guys get to the rim and stick it in over him and standing there and act like that's defense. That's not defense and that's not stopping a man. In the second half I thought he fought to stop people and he did."

"I thought Michael Cooper gave us good energy off the bench," Franklin said. "They are all the same key, we've got to have them all to win. When you are in the main rotation, it's the main rotation. Starters, rotation, it's all the same and they really are and we'll see as the game goes who is going to play."

"I thought Bryan and Hussein gave us some good things in there," Franklin added. "Hussein is good in the middle of the presses and the traps and in a game like that it becomes that's more of what he's going to give you because the zone is going to collapse and he needs to do a really good job with that and he did. And we got easy buckets early because he's turning and finding the guy at the right time. We got some layups and some good buckets and he really makes a difference in there and in that. Things that maybe not everybody in the world notices but it was very key tonight."

"Bryan did a good job and gave us some inside punch," Franklin said. "11 rebounds, early in the year he wasn't rebounding that way. It's been the second half of the year where he's getting all the double-doubles. First half of the year he'd get you three, four or five rebounds. It's the improvement, taking your game to the next step, the next step, giving us what we need to give us a chance, he's doing that."

"Like I said about Christian Andrews," Franklin added. "And we'll see if he takes it into the next game. Another level of maturing. You can't be taken out, Lebron's a little dinged, it's you. I think that was good for him. There was a moment where we said we could get our backside beat if you collapse out here, you can't do that. You have to man up right now. If you do we'll be fine, so you pick. He did and he picked correctly. Now he should know that he can do it. It's there, you know how to do it and it's in front of you. But it's a learning process for all of these guys. I thought Ali Sakho did some good things tonight. I thought he had good moments after the beginning. He was a little tentative on his layup, we got after him because we've been getting after him about that and then after that I thought all of his finishes were assertive and you see the difference."

"I thought Dayton in the second half was night and day," Franklin said. "We've been challenging him. He's lost a little confidence for some reason. Guys do that, it's just one of the things that you go through. He started out pretty good, made some plays around the basket and in that zone where they are not really guarding him. I thought in the second half Dayton was very active and very assertive, very positive, very assured of himself and you say the difference and you saw how he carried himself differently. I know his reactions when he came off the floor was different. I'm happy for him. I'm happy that he got over that hump and hopefully he continues over that hump next week when we play."

The Trailblazers will look to build on this momentum as VU looks to repeat as Region 24 tournament champions when Vincennes begins postseason play Monday, March 10 at 2 p.m. eastern at Rend Lake College in Ina, Ill.

VU's opponent in Monday's Quarterfinal of the Region 24 tournament is still to be determined.

"We start every year with the hope that we are going to win the District," Franklin said. "And we hope that by the end of the regular season we have done enough that even before we have played any games in the District tournament that we've got to Hutch. I would think, by any metric, that we've done that. I don't know any metric possible that you could look at where we are not in the field. That's an incredible deal going from 6-3, we're a brand new team trying to still figure it out, we had injuries to deal with, whether it was losing Vasser for the year, which we thought he was going to be a really good player for us. To Travelle being basically hurt the whole first semester. Ali Sakho not being able to do anything until the end of the first semester and an all new team of people learning. We play a challenging schedule and we're sitting there at 6-3 and we've got Triton coming up, Logan coming up, a trip to Malcolm X, which is no walk in the park, a trip to Lincoln Trail coming up and I thought our team at that moment, we knew we couldn't afford any more losses. We could go way down in the hole right here and still not be a bad team because we could have lost all of those games and not been bad. At that moment, if we were going to be good we had to handle it and that was a big week. We played Schoolcraft in the middle of that week and we won big."

"But we had a week from the Mineral game, which I thought we played well in," Franklin added. "Mineral played really well. We didn't have all of our guys, we were still getting there. It was a good game. They hit a couple of big shots from three that switched the game over from us to them. But I had thought that we improved from the Moberly game to that game but we need to make one more big one to handle what was coming and our guys did. The Triton game was huge in here. We had to step up, handle it and get it done or we would be talking about these things. The team we were in November is no resemblance to now."

"Then we had to make a quick turnaround and beat Logan," Franklin said. "I thought Logan played really well in here and got them. Then we had to turnaround and Michael Cooper was not playing at Lincoln Trail and Travelle's not, go down the list. Then we have to turn around and get Lincoln Trail and they are a nice team and did. Then we've got to do the same thing going to Malcolm X without those guys and then we basically played that whole game without Lebron. In the 15 minutes he played, we won by 20 plus. At that time in the year we are not as ready to handle that as we are now. And from that point, now we come back and we think we can do anything and they did."

"They went through the 16 games in District, won all of them both home and away," Franklin added. "Even now you are dealing with Lebron being a little dinged up. The last three games you've basically had him with one game not being able to play at all and very limited in the other two. So this team, with no veteran guards at all had to say, it's one more thing and we'll deal with it. They have. So they should be very much commended, it's been a heck of a run to win these 20 games in a row with this new bunch and the teams that we've played, what they have had to face and the way that they've handled it. Very proud of them. It's a tremendous achievement if it looks like we get to Hutch and if and when we get to Hutch and that becomes something official, it's a tremendous achievement. They deserve it at this point, there's no question in my mind about that."

"Now we're trying to get that top four seed," Franklin said. "Certainly want to get a bye but we feel like we're a team that deserves to be in that top four and if we can handle our business next week that's a big deal. But now we go and play for the excitement of playing in this District Tournament. You want to go win it and you want to be a champion every chance you get to be. We use it as a spring board to go to Hutch now and the better we win and the better we do, the better those seeds and things are. I just want to see us continue to progress. I just want to see us play our most aggressive, smartest, most confident basketball. That's it. As long as we do that, we'll live with it. Obviously we feel like we have every chance to win. You are not going to go 16-0 in the regular season and not think you can win. But we know it's hard. You are driving over there two hours every other day. Our fans don't get there as much, we hope tries to as best as they can to help our team. We're behind enemy lines, that's for sure. But we're used to it and I want to see our guys handle it much like they handled the second half today."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (101): Bryan Akanmu 4-7 3-4 11, Travelle Bryson 10-18 0-0 26, Hussein Elmaraghy 3-7 0-0 6, Lebron Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Dayton Williams 8-12 0-0 17, Christian Andrews 2-5 1-2 6, Meyoh Swansey 4-6 2-2 12, Jalen Calloway 1-1 0-0 2, Taveon Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Michael Cooper 2-4 8-8 13, Darstin Onye 0-0 0-0 0, Ali Sakho 2-3 0-0 4, Kenaz Ochogwu 1-1 0-0 2, Team 38-67 14-16 101.

Kaskaskia – 31   24 – 55

VU (26-3, 16-0) – 46   55 – 101

Three-point goals: VU 11 (Bryson 6, Swansey 2, Williams, Andrews, Cooper). Rebounds: VU 43 (Akanmu 11). Assists: VU 26 (Andrews 10). Steals: VU 13 (Akanmu 3, Williams 3). Blocked Shots: VU 7 (Bryson 2, Elmaraghy 2). Turnovers: VU 14. Personal Fouls: VU 7. Fouled out: None.