National News

 November 2, 2009

Freshman guard Monty Wilson scored 19 points off the bench - 12 after halftime - and sophomores Chris Henderson and Ryan Allen had 15 each as the Vincennes Trailblazers beat visiting New Creations 99-84 Sunday to open the 2009-10 season.

Sophomore forward Daimion Garrett had 11 and sophomore guard Fred Ford chipped in with eight points to support a VU attack in which everyone on the Trailblazers roster scored.

Guards Phillip Bond and Hayden Annett tied for game-high scoring honors with 20 points. Annett had 18 and Bond 16 after intermission. Walter Pitchford scored 13 for the Flyers.

The Trailblazers got out to a big lead early as New Creations struggled from the floor and didn't record a field goal until a short jumper by guard Andros Desir made it 31-7 VU with 9:34 remaining in the first half. Prior to that shot, the Flyers had only five free throws.

New Creations went scoreless again until the 8:16 mark when a pair of free throws by Junior McLeod broke the second scoring ice jam. Unfortunately, the Trailblazers had cooled off and only scored a pair of points by that time as well. From that 33-9 score, the Flyers outscored VU 25-11 over the next eight minutes to pull within 10 at 44-34 at the half.

The Trailblazers shot 46 percent on 17-of-37 shooting in the first half. However, New Creations hit 13 free throws, thanks to 16 first-half VU fouls, to stay in sight of the Trailblazers.

The Trailblazers stretched the lead back to 20 in the second half on a Henderson dunk that staked VU to a 60-40 advantage. The cushion swelled to as much as 26 points when freshman Philip Freeman stole a Flyers inbounds pass and took it in untouched for a layup to make it 80-54 with just less than eight minutes to go.

VU kept the lead near 20 throughout much of the rest of the way in outscoring the Flyers 55-50 in the second half and cruising to the final score.

The Trailblazers will return to action Wednesday when they host Olney Central at 7 p.m. Admission is $5, but students with valid VU I.D.s are admitted free.

All VU Trailblazers games can also be heard with Dave Hunter's play-by-play on Blazer 91.1 WVUB.