CENTRALIA, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers faced a nine-point deficit with 47 seconds to play on the road against the Kaskaskia Blue Devils.
Vincennes ramped up the defensive pressure and forced several turnovers by the Blue Devils, which allowed VU freshman Thow James Biel (Calgary, Alberta) to score eight of Vincennes' final 10 points as the Trailblazers battled all the way back to take a 64-63 lead with 9.9 seconds to play.
Kaskaskia's last second attempt missed wide as the rebound rolled out to midcourt when the buzzer sounded as the Trailblazers came away with a 10-0 scoring run in 37.1 seconds to win 64-63.
The game began as a back-and-forth battle with Vincennes leading by one midway through the first half.
Kaskaskia used a 9-2 scoring run to take a nine point lead before The Trailblazers responded to cut the deficit to just six points at the break, as Vincennes trailed 31-25.
The Trailblazers continued to use this momentum to begin the second half, battling back to even the score in the first two and half minutes of the second half.
The Blue Devils responded back on their home floor to outscore the Trailblazers 18-8 to take their largest lead of the game at 49-39.
Vincennes would rally back to cut the deficit to four before Kaskaskia again built their lead back to 10 points late in the second half.
Kaskaskia kept the game at this margin with a basket to take a 63-54 lead with 47 seconds to play.
Vincennes raced down the floor to make a quick basket.
After a Blue Devil turnover, Thow James Biel hit a three to make it a four-point game.
James Biel then stole the inbound pass by Kaskaskia and hit a layup to bring VU back to within a basket with 27.3 seconds to play.
Kaskaskia got the ball down to their end of the floor as Vincennes looked to begin to foul but with fouls still to give it looked like time might be running out on the Trailblazers.
VU freshman Grant Brown (Fairmount, Ind.) forced a Blue Devil turnover on the inbound pass to give Vincennes a chance to tie or take the lead.
Vincennes ran the ball down the court and set up their offense. Thow James Biel used a screen to pop out behind the arc above the free throw line to hit another three and give the Blazers a one-point lead with 9.9 seconds on the clock.
Kaskaskia attempted a last second shot but missed, as the rebound was tipped away and grabbed by Brown as the buzzer sounded giving Vincennes their fifth win in the last six Region 24 games.
"We fell behind because I just felt like we never could quite put that level of intensity and focus that you need all night," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. "I thought we had chances, so it was a mostly frustrating night most of the night. It really felt like if we could just turn that corner we could have played well."
"But in the last minute of the game, for our guys, it wasn't luck, they just executed," Franklin added. "Now, you have to have a little help from the other team, but we just flat executed there at the end and Thow made some shots, but he got them out of the actions we were trying to run. He was open. He shot it like he meant it. Our guys got him the ball where he need it. So, it wasn't luck at the end. The amazing thing was that we got to that point in the final 47 seconds."
"We saved all our timeout until right there at the end, so we would be able to stop the clock after every score. But we came back and won this game from down nine and we were up with almost 10 seconds left and they never shot a free throw. Our guys executed. They fought. They didn't quit and this is the kind of win a team like this needs at some point and we've gotten two of those back-to-back. At some point we just want to see them turn that fire up to where they play the whole game that way. Because if we can, we're in a position where I think we can take another two or three steps up and have an opportunity to beat everybody. Hopefully this will light a fire under us the rest of the way, but we'll know more by Saturday."
Thow James Biel led the Trailblazers with 24 points on the night, 16 of which coming in the second half, while also finishing with a team-high six rebounds.
Freshman Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) also reached double figures for the Trailblazers, ending with 14 points on the night, 12 of which coming in the second half.
Freshman Brevin Jefferson (Indianapolis, Ind.) distributed the ball well all night from the point guard position, ending with five points and a team-high eight assists on the night.
"I thought Shilo gave us a good performance for a freshman inside guy," Franklin said. "But we need a sophomore-level inside guy. I think tonight if he had that type of performance he could have had 25 or 30 points. Kaskaskia wasn't denying him the ball, he was able to get it, it's just about getting him over that edge. For a freshman it's really good but we've got to find a way in this last month to get him where he's playing at a sophomore level. I think he can. I know he wants to. We've just got to find a way to get him over that hump."
"Same thing with Thow," Franklin added. "Thow could have had a huge first half and it just didn't happen. So hopefully he'll catch a fire and say, 'I can do this and I need to do it all night'. Brevin Jefferson is the same way. It's the same thing we've said all year, it's just about the intensity and aggression and the focus of what we're doing and that is what is going to determine what happens the rest of the season."
"This would have been a very frustrating loss to me if we had lost tonight. Kaskaskia has a nice team, but I just felt like, even at the start of the second half, we came out a jumped on them and we could keep doing it, but we stopped. There was nothing the other team did to stop it. It's just a matter of, can we find a way to get that all night. You hope a game like this can help some guys turn it all the way up, but that's kind of up to them. We've been preaching it and we think strategically we are where we need to be, now it's just about finding those guys that have that fire and can do it."
"I think they want to do it, because we've seen them fight late in games throughout the season. But there is something that is holding them back from kicking that gear in throughout the entire game. They're freshmen, but it's that time of the year where, especially a freshman that has played the whole time, needs to kick in an act like a sophomore. That's going to be the tale of our season. If these freshmen can kick in and play like determined sophomores then we have a chance. If they don't, then we're probably going to come up short. But I'm proud of these guys for the fight at the end tonight."
Vincennes will hit the road again Saturday afternoon when VU travels to Robinson, Ill. to face off against Lincoln Trail College, Saturday, Jan. 29. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. eastern.
VU lost to the Statesmen earlier this season at the P.E. Complex 65-64 in overtime after Vincennes led 35-17 at halftime.
"It's just focus and intensity, with a little bit of determination," Franklin said as for what he wanted to see out of his team heading into Saturday. "Strategically we have a pretty good idea of what we need to do. We were dominating them in the first half, even where we were at that stage of the year. I'm sure they didn't think they were playing well but we played pretty well in the first half."
"Then they went to a press in the second half and we didn't really have any answers at that point," Franklin added. "We just couldn't deal with it. That's really not a big problem for us now as we've progressed throughout the season. Hopefully that will not be a problem on Saturday. We will be prepared for it, I know that. So that shouldn't be what beats us."
"But Lincoln Trail is going to play really hard. Coach Cotton is going to get them to play their tails off. They are older than we are. They have good quickness and they will be at home. But we'll see how much we've progressed. But the big thing is not about how much we've progressed, as much as what we do during that two-hour window. If we've gotten better and we can play at this level, but we don't play like that during those two hours it really doesn't matter. We've got to put on display what we've improved on over the course of the season. If we can do that on Saturday, then I like our chances. But it's going to be a tough game."
"We'll see if we can build off of tonight. It would be great to win Saturday's game. We've gotten ourselves back to .500 in the Region after starting 0-4 and we've put ourselves somewhere in the four or five slot right now. So, we're moving up to being in a good position in the tournament today, with eight games to play and a win Saturday would be another really big game in terms of positioning within the Region. I still think we have a chance to move up to the three, but no lower than four if we play well. Then we will be playing against that pile of teams that we know we can beat if we play well in the first round. We've just got to get to those positions where we are improving our seeding and be playing really well when it happens because the opportunities are there. We can see, in spurts, that this team is growing. We just have to put together for a continued time and that's what I want to see Saturday."
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (64): Thow James Biel 10-14 2-2 24, Trenton Johnson 2-5 0-0 6, Brevin Jefferson 2-5 1-2 5, Darrius Davis 2-6 2-2 6, Shilo Jackson 7-14 0-2 14, Ketaan Wyatt 2-3 0-2 4, Devawn White 0-3 2-2 2, Grant Brown 1-1 0-0 3, Deatrick Pashell 0-2 0-0 0, Team 26-53 7-12 64.
VU (8-13, 5-5) – 25 39 – 64
Kaskaskia – 31 32 – 63
Three-point goals: VU 5 (James Biel 2, Johnson 2, Brown). Rebounds: VU 19 (James Biel 6). Assists: VU 13 (Jefferson 8). Steals: VU 4 (Johnson 2). Blocked Shots VU 2 (Jackson, Pashell). Turnovers: VU 9. Personal Fouls: VU 12. Fouled out: None.