VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University men's basketball team opened their 2021-22 season with a come-from-behind win over Rend Lake College Monday night.
VU fell behind by 10 points early in the second half, before climbing all the way back to pick up the 55-46 victory over the Warriors.
The game stayed close throughout a tough, defensive battle of a first half, with holding the largest lead of the game at 12-7 after a three-point basket by freshman Ketaan Wyatt (Toledo, Ohio).
Rend Lake would answer back to take the lead heading into the break as the Blazers headed back to the locker room down 22-21 at halftime.
The Warriors opened the second half on a 9-0 scoring run to give Rend Lake a 10 point lead at 31-21.
Vincennes responded by getting the ball in the post to freshman forward Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) who scored the next eight VU points to bring the Blazers within five points.
Freshman guard Trenton Johnson (South Bend, Ind.) took over the game from there, brining Vincennes all the way back to take a 41-38 lead with just under seven minutes to play.
The Trailblazers expanded on this lead after a tough layup by freshman Grant Brown (Fairmount, Ind.) gave VU a seven point cushion.
Vincennes closed out the game at the free throw line, hitting five of their last six shots from the stripe to give the Blazers their first win of the season 55-46.
"I thought we were grinding all night," VU Hall of Fame head coach Todd Franklin said. "I thought defensively we were good all night and (Rend Lake) plays a different type of style than you're going to see. They've got a lot of guys who played last year and are back. When we're not making shots and you have to play where you're grinding against them, it's tough."
"I thought defensively, we held up very well for game one," Franklin added. "The second half they came out and hit a couple shots but we had to respond at that time and start putting the ball in the bucket and maintain our defensive intensity."
"Our defense was good enough all night, it's just offensively we were not," Franklin said. "Second half we started to move the ball and find that rhythm, it's still not where it needs to be, but because of it we were able to get the ball inside more and get to the foul line 16 times. We shot well in the second half it was close to 58-percent."
"The first half was horrible in terms of the shooting percentage (28-percent) but the second half, especially after we got down by 10, we were pretty good," Franklin added. "If we hadn't had some young, freshman, first game turnovers, that's what really would stop us."
"I think this was a quality win. Against that team that's been together and that style of play, it can be really tough, especially if you don't get out ahead of them. I was proud of our effort tonight."
VU was led offensively by Trenton Johnson, who ended with a game-high 22 points, with four assists and four rebounds as well.
Shilo Jackson picked up a double-double in his first collegiate game, ending his night with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Freshman Thaw James Biel (Calgary, Alberta) nearly came away with a double-double, falling just short with eight points and seven rebounds in his college debut.
Vincennes won the rebounding battle over the Warriors by 14, ending with 41 rebounds for VU and 27 for Rend Lake.
"You can see the potential, we're trying to create this for the long-term with this team," Franklin said. "Shilo Jackson showed a lot tonight. We didn't get Thow the ball as much as we would have wanted, but defensively the playing ability is there."
"Trenton stepped up and scored the basketball. He made some big plays and he's capable of that, he scored a bunch of points in high school. I thought Ketaan did a good job defensively. That's why he played so much, he chased Creel better than anybody else. But I thought he did the best job on him and gave us some fight."
"Grant played hard. It's the first time we've thrown him out there playing as a point guard. It was a roller coaster at times, but you can see where he has the potential. We're just going to have to get better every day. Their thinking about what they have to do, it's not going to be pretty or perfect, but all I want to see is did they compete and compete with great energy and fight. I thought they did that tonight, even when we fell behind. I was proud of those guys who played in the second half, I was proud of their competitive fire."
The youthful Trailblazers will look to learn from this game as they head into a very difficult weekend as Vincennes will host the annual Kiwanis Classic Friday, Nov. 5 and Saturday, Nov. 6 at the P.E. Complex.
Action starts Friday at 5 p.m. when Shawnee takes on No. 20 Harcum, before the Trailblazers face-off against No. 25 Columbia State at 7 p.m.
The Classic will conclude Saturday, Nov. 6 when Shawnee faces No. 25 Columbia State at 5 p.m. and Vincennes will play host to No. 20 Harcum College at 7 p.m. eastern.
"You hope that we make a big jump from game one to game two. I don't know how much we're going to take from this, the styles are going to be different from what we're going to see," Franklin said. "But we'll see who comes back tomorrow and goes to work. We just have to make a jump and often times you can make that jump from game one to game two."
"This was a tough game one, for a group of freshmen, that style of play and Rend Lake does it well, and the fact that we were able to turn them over by fighting over screens late was really impressive," Franklin added. "It's going to be a different style of game completely this weekend. It's just about us taking this, exhaling, getting a little more relaxed and more comfortable on offense and focusing on the things we've talked about this weekend, because we're going to need to."
Rend Lake – 22 24 – 46
VU (1-0) – 21 34 – 55
VINCENNES STATS
Trenton Johnson 8-16 3-3 22, Shilo Jackson 4-6 4-5 12, Thow James Biel 3-5 1-4 8, Brevin Jefferson 1-5 2-4 4, Darrius Davis 1-4 0-0 2, Ketaan Wyatt 1-3 0-2 3, Devawn White 0-1 0-0 0, Marcus Clarke-Moore 0-1 0-0 0, Grant Brown 2-9 0-0 4, Deatrick Pashell 0-1 0-0 0 Team 20-51 10-18 55.
Three point goals: VU 5 (Johnson 3, James Biel, Wyatt). Rebound: VU 41 (Jackson 12). Assists: 14 (Johnson, Brown 4). Steals: 5 (Johnson, Jefferson 2), Blocked shots: 4 (James Biel, Jackson, Jefferson, Brown). Turnovers: 19. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: Wyatt.
