VINCENNES, Ind. - The injury bug bit the Vincennes University Men’s Basketball team again Tuesday night, but again the Trailblazers had an answer.

Craig Porter went down midway through the first half against visiting Volunteer State with an injury to his eye.
Cardell McGee stepped in and gave a spark to help No. 6 VU to a dominating 98-38 win inside the PE Complex.

McGee finished with a season-high 15 points to lead five different Trailblazers in double figures.

“That is the flip side to Craig going down is Cardell came in and stepped right up,” VU coach Todd Franklin said. “Two weeks ago Cardell was playing young and probably was not looking at a lot of playing time, but he has been forced to play and he is getting better each time out. He played well tonight. He played with more control and was confident.”

A 3-pointer from McGee with 13 minutes, 46 seconds left in the first half gave VU a 20-8 lead and ignited a 17-5 spurt. The Trailblazers never looked back.

VU doubled up Volunteer State at the half, 44-22, and put the game away with an 18-0 run to open the second half.

“I thought we did a couple things (offensively) a little out of character which made things harder than it should have been in the first half,” Franklin said. “But in the second half, I felt like we kept it simple and kept it right and we looked really good.”

The defense also made adjustments on Vol State’s lone scoring threat, George Stanberry. The Vol State guard knocked down five 3-pointers in the first half and scored 17 points.

The VU defense held him to just three points in the final 20 minutes of play.

“As the game went along we really tightened things up on him and once that was taken away they really struggled to score,” Franklin said. “I thought for most of the game we looked good defensively except on the times we got a little lax on Stanberry.”

The Trailblazers held Vol State to just 10 of 44 shooting from the field and limited them to just three offensive boards.

The Trailblazers came away with 21 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the guests, 47-27.

“I think rebounding is going to be the strength of this team,” Franklin stated.

Lony Francis, Jr. and George Dixon both pulled down nine boards and both also totaled 11 points.

Keith Clemons and Kevin Kangu added 13 points apiece to round out the VU players in double figures.

Clemons also dished out seven assists, while McGee finished with five.

The Trailblazers (3-0) return to the hardwood this weekend in the Sodexo Classic. VU plays Lincoln Land Friday night and East Mississippi State Saturday night. Both games are inside the PE Complex with 7 p.m. start times.

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VICKIE PUFFER, Communications Coordinator & Online Newsroom Manager
812-888-4162 office, 812-887-4635 cell, VUNews@vinu.edu, vpuffer@vinu.edu
VINCENNES UNIVERSITY, Department of University Relations, www.vinu.edu/news/newsroom