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The Vincennes Blazer Bowlers came from behind Saturday to claim the 2010 NJCAA Bowling National Championships at AMF Thruway Lanes in Cheektowaga , NY . The title was VU’s 17th and third in a row. VU won the event with a big second day. After the second five-man game on Friday, the Blazer Bowlers trailed Erie Community College by more than 100 pins. But a huge third game vaulted by VU and Hudson Valley past Erie to take over the top spots going into Saturday’s action. VU turned in the best five-man total of 6,778 pins to win the crown, pulling away. The Blazer Bowlers’ total of 693 in the first set of Baker competition pushed them 700 pins ahead with six games remaining. VU finished with a total of 15,088 to edge runner-up Hudson Valley’s 14,343 pins. Erie was third with 14,161. Sophomore Gerod Qualls set an NJCAA record with an 826 set Saturday morning. The All-American had games of 269, 279 and 278. He earned the Helmer Award as the all-events champion for the second consecutive year. Qualls edged teammate Jack Sullivan by 56 pins.
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Blazers earn NJCAA bowling title |
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Mustangs end Trailblazers’ season VALHALLA, N.Y. – The Vincennes Trailblazers made the high-octane Monroe College play the game VU wanted in the NJCAA district championship game Sunday afternoon, but the Mustangs were able to fend off the Trailblazers’ second-half rallies and prevail, 78-68. The victory ended VU’s season and send Monroe on the NJCAA National Championship Tournament in Hutchinson , KA. Freshman Monty Wilson led VU (21-10) with a game-high 26 points. Sophomore Ryan Allen and freshman Jon Nwannunu each had nine and sophomore Fred Ford and freshman Thomas Nugent both finished with eight. The Trailblazers’ game plan entering the day had been to slow down the up-and-down tempo that Monroe had used to destroy Harcum the previous day and make the Mustangs settle for jump shots. But that strategy – while it was carried out – didn’t yield the results that VU Coach David Ragland and the Trailblazers were looking for. “You have to tip your hat to Monroe; they beat us at the game we forced them to play,” Ragland said. “They hit a lot of jump shots. What’s really frustrating is that they beat us so bad on the boards, but I can’t question our heart and effort today.” The Mustangs topped the Trailblazers 46-27 in rebounding. Ragland did however believe that his team could have been more aggressive against the bigger Monroe, which featured a frontline of players standing 7’0”, 6’8” and 6’8” and allowed the Mustangs to stretch the zone defense and stymie VU’s exterior shooting eye. “We settled for a lot of jump shots, especially in the first half, and we didn’t attack the rim,” Ragland said. The Trailblazers battled back from a 16-point halftime deficit and got within five at 66-61 when Nwannunu put back a VU miss. However, the momentum was cut off when Monroe’s Tyrone Nared played copycat but added dramatic effect by jamming home a teammate’s miss. A Ford 3-pointer was off the mark, but Wilson scored for VU in transition to preserve the five-point range at 68-63. VU got no closer, though, as the Trailblazers missed a pair of treys and Monroe and salted away the victory with free throws when VU fouled to try to get the ball back and score. Despite the finish not being what the Trailblazers had hoped for, the season was a highly positive step for the program overall, Ragland said. “This was a great learning experience, a great life experience,” he added. “We told the guys that we’ll have a spring break but we’ll come back and work out in the spring because we have a lot of areas where we can get better. It’s been a great ride and we’re looking forward to next year with what we’re putting in place.” |
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Lady Blazers fall to Monroe ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Sophomore Megan Craft closed out her Vincennes Lady Trailblazers career with 20 points and fellow sophomore Misty Wynn wrapped up her tenure at VU with 15 points as VU fell to Monroe 83-69 in the championship game of the NJCAA district tournament Sunday afternoon. Craft was 2-for-3 from 3-point range and 8-for-8 at the line. VU, which ended the year at 24-7, also got 12 ponts from sophomore MyQueisha Bratton and seven points each from freshmen Jasmine McGhee, Deanna Thompson and Margee Reeder. McGhee pulled down nine rebounds and Bratton had five.
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ENID, Okla. – The Vincennes University Blazer Baseball team failed to capitalize on a couple opportunities and it cost the Trailblazers a chance at a victory in their first game of the 2010 NJCAA Div. II World Series today in Enid, OK. The 5-4 setback to Iowa Central in the tournament's first game wasted a solid seven-inning performance by VU sophomore starter Patrick Kraft and sophomore catcher Jonathan Kimbro's two-run homer, as the Trailblazers left five runners on base and committed two errors. VU Coach Chris Barney was disappointed after the loss but also encouraged by what he saw in the opening game. His team was close to being a winner but did itself in with little things that led to big trouble, he said. "There are 10 very good teams here and you have to play perfect defense, which we didn't," he said. "But we didn't hit the ball and put it play enough either. We've dug ourselves a little bit of a hole here, but we have to return tomorrow and play pitch-to-pitch, out-to-out, inning-to-inning and, for nine innings, play good solid baseball. Today, we were a couple outs and a couple of errors away from that and it cost us. If we make a pitch or two here and get a couple hits there, it might have been a different outcome today." Kraft gave up only five hits as he struck out four and yielded just one base on balls, but Iowa Central got to him for three runs in the fourth inning. Kraft recovered from that inning to be solid again until he gave way to sophomore Mick Montcalm, who took the loss. Sophomore Nick Meko threw a scoreless ninth by setting down the Tritons in order. VU got on the board first when Spencer Anderson walked to open the bottom of the third and a Tritons balk moved him to second before Jason Cruse advanced him to third with a bunt. Anthony Olund then brought Anderson home with a sacrifice fly. The Trailblazers battled back after Iowa Central's three-run fourth when Kimbro's blast to left field tied it up at 3. It stayed that way until Iowa Central's Nick Judkins tripled off the left field wall to start the sixth and scored a few batters later. In the seventh, Iowa Central starter Andy Cox was lifted after Kimbro's lead-off single, but Anderson walked and Cruse moved both runners with another bunt. Olund then drove in Kimbro to tie it at 4, but Anderson was out at the plate as he tried to follow Kimbro home on Olund's hit. Kimbro (2-for-4) and Olund each had a pair of runs driven in, and Kimbro scored twice. The Tritons got to Montcalm in the eighth with a single before Montcalm was called for a balk and third baseman Dylan Brammer didn't come up with Kimbro's throw when an Iowa Central runner stole third. The runner came home on Brammer's error for the final 5-4 margin. Sophomore Josh Geiger gets the ball for VU when the Trailblazers return to the field at 4:30 p.m. (Vincennes time) Sunday. VU faces the loser of the Frederick (MD) Community College-University of Connecticut-Avery Point game that followed VU's first game.
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Blazers fall short at World Series |
