Railers overcome hot early shooting by Mundelein to win 44-35 in opening game of Collinsville Tourney

 

[December 28, 2024]  COLLINSVILLE – Santa wasn’t telling what LCHS head basketball coach Neil Alexander had on his list for Christmas, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if a healthy Railer basketball team was atop the list.

Although the Railers aren’t completely injury free, Friday night showed they are on the road to recovery. While Karson Komnick is still on the mend, big men Drew Hayes and Frank Sanders returned for Lincoln in its 44-35 opening-round win over Mundelein in the Prairie Farms Classic Tournament at Collinsville.

Sanders, all 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds of him, not only returned to the floor for the Railers for the first time since Week 1, he did so with a bang. His presence down low for Lincoln was critical as he led all scorers with 18 points and was selected as player of the game by tournament officials.

“It’s good to see him, isn’t it?” Alexander said of Sanders after the game. “He got after it. He hasn’t played for a month. We had to attack down there, and he’s gotten so much better from a year ago. I hope we don’t have any roadblocks for him, because he makes us so we can compete against bigger teams.”

Early on, it didn’t appear the Railers would be doing much competing at all. The Railers got the first points of the game as Hayes hit a short shot inside, but Mundelein showed some sharp outside shooting as the Mustangs scored nine unanswered points on a trio of three-pointers to jump ahead 9-2.

Lincoln then got a basket from Hayes, who then left the game temporarily as he and his sore lower leg got entangled with an opponent and appeared to tweak the injured area. He did return later for the Railers.

The bucket by Hayes triggered a 9-0 run by LCHS. The Railers came back to tie the contest at 9-all on a three-pointer by Brady Miller. Then Lincoln ran an alley-oop play to Sanders, the kernel of Lincoln’s inside attack, who sank the basket to give LCHS an 11-9 lead after one quarter.

It was a game of runs for both teams, as the Mustangs tallied six points in a row before Hayes knocked down a three-pointer to cut Mundelein’s lead to 15-14. But the Mustangs shut Lincoln out the remainder of the first half scoring another six in a row to hold a 21-14 advantage at halftime.

Mundelein shot 57.1 percent from the floor in the first half, including hitting 5 of 7 (71.4 percent) on three pointers. In contrast, Lincoln was only 6 of 23 (26.1 percent) from the field, including 20 percent (2 of 10) on treys. The laws of probability suggested that those numbers would even out a bit more in the second half of play.

The Railers, however, weren’t interested in evening out any statistical figures; they wanted to get back in the game. And that’s just what they did, as Brady Miller opened the scoring for Lincoln with a three-pointer. After Mundelein’s Evan Salvador dollied his way through the lane for a short bucket for the Mustangs, Lincoln went on a 10-2 run to close out the third quarter, capping a 13-4 advantage for LCHS in the period and giving Lincoln a 27-25 edge heading into the final stanza.

In the last quarter, Blake Horn notched his first points of the game, hitting a free throw before Mustang field goal. Then Lincoln took advantage of lanes to the basket as Brody Tungate and Blake Horn each drove in for field goals to extend the LCHS lead to 32-27. Then Salvador and Horn took over for their respective teams, exchanging pairs of field goals to push the score to 36-31.

From that point, Sanders and Tungate capped the Railer scoring, each with a pair of field goals while Mundelein’s Nathan Hauf hit a pair of free throws and Thomas scored a field goal for the Mustangs to make the final score 44-35.

Lincoln outscored Mundelein 30-14 in the second half, slowing down the Mustang offense from its first half barrage of treys. While Mundelein his 5 of 7 three pointers in the first half, the Mustangs were 0-for-8 on threes after intermission.

The Railers move to 9-3 overall with the victory. In addition to Sanders’ 18 points, Lincoln got 7 points apiece from Horn and Hayes along with 6 points each from Tungate and Miller. The Railers will play today at 2:30 PM against Belleville East. Depending on the outcome of that game, the Railers will play later in the day at either 7:30 PM or 9 PM against a yet-to-be-determined opponent. Lincoln will play its final game of the tournament on Sunday with the opponent and game time yet to be determined.

Mundelein was led by Hauf with 15 points and Salvador added 12. The Mustangs drop to 5-7 and will face Granite City at 2:30 PM today.

For those unable to travel to the Collinsville tournament, WLCN 96.3 FM and all media outlets which provided live videostream coverage of the contests are not being allowed to provide videostream coverage of live game action. Individuals who wish to watch the tournament action live online must pay to do so through the exclusive live videostream provided by the tournament.

WLCN will have a feed available via its YouTube channel, but as the station did with its coverage of the 2024 LCHS Lady Railer basketball team’s postseason run, the YouTube feed will only include the audio of WLCN’s play-by-play radio coverage, a scoreboard on the screen and sponsor information and no live visual images in real time of game action. The only live video that will be shown on WLCN’s YouTube feed will be of non-game elements such as WLCN’s pregame/halftime/postgame shows, other breaks and other non-game live imagery included.

This change does not impact radio coverage of the tournament; the only impact is that media outlets are not being allowed to show video of live game action in real time as it is taking place. WLCN’s audio coverage of the games will be available as usual on the radio at 96.3 FM and via the Mixlr app for smart devices.

[Loyd Kirby | WLCN 96.3]