By Troy Guthrie, Sports Information Director

Vincennes opened up a 23-point halftime lead and built on it in the second half to rout Simmons College 95-67 Friday night in the first round of the 48th Annual Kiwanis Invitational Classic at the VU P.E. Complex.

November 15, 2008

Vincennes opened up a 23-point halftime lead and built on it in the second half to rout Simmons College 95-67 Friday night in the first round of the 48th Annual Kiwanis Invitational Classic at the VU P.E. Complex.

Guard Johnie Davis led the Trailblazers (5-0) with 17 points. Guards Antonio Sullivan and JP Olukemi finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Chris Henderson had nine. Sean Jackson led the Panthers with 11 points.

Every active member of the VU roster saw playing time in the game. Coach David Ragland was pleased with the contributions of everyone as the Trailblazers bench accounted to 61 points. “It was a good opportunity for a lot of people to come in and take advantage of the chance to play – and I’m glad they did just that,” Ragland said. “Everybody contributed, one through 12, and I’m excited about that. That’s what it’s all about because this is a team game.”

Ragland was especially pleased with the shooting of Sullivan. The reserve guard had been 4-for-10 from 3-point range in the Trailblazers’ first four games. Friday night, he continued to shoot well from behind the arc, draining three of five – including two in the first half when VU was building its lead.

“Things like that come from guys getting comfortable,” Ragland said of Sullivan’s marksmanship against Simmons. “It looks like he’s going to get better and better at knocking down shots when we need them. He’s starting to play well and I think a lot of it is from him getting comfortable in his role on this team.”

The Trailblazers also enjoyed a couple of other bright spots in the Friday contest. This time, VU maintained its big lead after squandering much of a nearly-30-point advantage over Carl Sandburg College on November 8 to win by only 11. Ragland said the reasons for the improved focus and better finish were obvious as the Trailblazers finally cut their turnover total to less than 20 in a game (19) and upped their free throw percentage to 66 percent (23-for-35). That was easily VU’s best performance at the line this season because free throw shooting has been one the Trailblazers’ Achilles heels.

“We still have some growth to go but we’re making baby steps and we’ll take it because it’s improvement,” Ragland said. “We realize that we still need to play better as we go along.” This one was never in doubt. Cordell Passley’s trey put VU up 20-9 at the 13:55 mark in the first half. Sullivan followed seconds later with another bomb and the rout was on.

Passley lobbed an alley-oop to Davis for a bucket just before the horn for the 54-31 halftime advantage.

The large lead was aided by Simmons committing 18 first-half turnovers. VU had only five miscues in the first half.

VU followed up the victory over Simmons with the event’s second-night contest facing Allegany College of Maryland. Allegany was defeated in the Kiwanis Invitational Classic’s first game by Southeastern Illinois College.