A history-making night in Taylorville for the Railers

- Coach Neil Alexander gets win no. 700 as the Railers head coach

- Senior Kaden Froebe joins the 1,000 point club

[February 22, 2020]  The Lincoln Railers continued their winning ways on Friday night in Taylorville, picking up their 27th win on the season and giving Neil Alexander his 700th win as the Railers head coach. Adding to the history-making night was senior Kaden Froebe, who became just the 21st Railer in basketball history to reach the 1,000 point club.

Lincoln defeated Taylorville by a final of 72-46 while each of the five starters recorded double figures. All in all a great showing by the Railers and as the regular season begins to wind down, Lincoln continues playing solid basketball night in and night out.

The game began much like every game this year. The Railers were quick off the tip, moved the ball around the perimeter and thirty seconds into the game, the Railers scored.

Will Ewald opened the game with a three and the Railers never looked back.

Kameron Whiteman’s drive and ‘and one’ would extend the lead to 6-0 a couple minutes later.

The Railers did start out a little rusty on offense against Taylorville but still managed an early 9-2 lead after Landon Hullinger was fouled on the three and he sank every foul shot.

Kaden Froebe’s field goal made the score 11-4 and after a quick layup by Dylan Singleton, the Railers lead was 13-4.

Froebe hit another soft jumper in the lane on the next Railers possession and gave Lincoln a 15-6 lead.

Whiteman would complete the scoring in the first quarter with a three right in front of the Taylorville bench and just like that the first eight minutes belonged to Lincoln, 18-8 the score.

Taylorville began the second quarter on a 4-0 run but it didn’t take Lincoln long to drain a couple threes, courtesy of Whiteman and Ewald. Taylorville called a timeout to settle down.

Then it was Singleton shaking things up with his three out of the huddle. Lincoln continued playing long ball and Hullinger would get fouled again while shooting a three and he would remain perfect from the line, giving Lincoln a 30-16 lead.

Seconds later Lincoln had possession again and this time Froebe was set in the corner and he hit a three for nothing but net. Lincoln’s lead was 33-16 as 3:33 showed on the clock.

Right around the 2:00 minute mark in the second quarter, Froebe would dribble to the right just inside the three-point line and drain a field goal, putting him just over 1,000 points. Froebe needed eight points to hit 1,000th going into the game and with this bucket he scored his ninth point of the game that put him at 1,001 points and counting. A timeout was called and the gym gave him a nice standing ovation. With his basket the Railers lead was now 20 points, 36-16 the score.

Meanwhile with that milestone reached, Taylorville’s Jase Bergschneider, who was honored prior to the game as the Tornadoes new all-time leading scorer in school history, kept adding to his career total. Bergschneider drained back-to-back threes as the Tornadoes used an 8-0 run to close out the second quarter and narrow the gap to 36-24 at halftime.

The Railers third quarter began with revenge. A three by Whiteman and a three by Singleton stretched the lead back out to 42-27.

Lincoln slowed the game down a little bit after that. The third quarter creeped by with Lincoln still in control.

After back-to-back field goals by Froebe just ahead of the minute mark, the Railers lead was a comfortable 51-33. The third quarter would end with Lincoln up 51-37.

The starters finished out their portion of the fourth quarter on autopilot. Pouring in the points when needed and just kind of saving a little energy on defense for the upcoming game tonight versus Decatur Eisenhower.

Adam Grunder would lead the spark off the bench as the subs entered the game late in the quarter. Grunder has a pretty shot and his hand was hot, sinking two quick threes that settled the score at 72-46. It will be fun to watch Grunder in next year’s lineup.

The Railers end the contest with all five starters in double figures: Froebe (17), Whiteman (13), Singleton (12), Hullinger (12) and Singleton (11).

A solid performance by the starters drives Lincoln out to a 27-2 overall season record.

The Railers clinch the Apollo Conference Championship with a 12-0 record.

The Lincoln JV won by a final score of 51-29. Brody Whiteman led Lincoln with 16 points.

Lincoln will play at Decatur Eisenhower tonight. The JV will tip-off at 5 p.m. The Varsity will tip-off at 6:30 p.m.

Congratulations to Coach Alexander on win no. 700!

Congratulations to Kaden Froebe on joining the 1,000 point club!

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 72

Froebe 17
Whiteman 13
Ewald 12
Hullinger 12
Singleton 11
Grunder 6
Tungate 1

Taylorville 46

Bergschneider 14
Heimsness 9
Gideon 8
Czajkowski 8
Shirley 4
Heberling 3


JV scoring

Lincoln 51

B. Whiteman 16
Sasse 10
Koehler 10
Graue 6
Conway 3
Pollice 3
Battin 2
Klopp 1

Taylorville 29

Bitschenauer 14
Heimsness 11
Brown 2
Markwell 1
Durbin 1

[Teena Lowery]