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Railers surge
past Southeast, 49-33
[December 20, 2025]
LINCOLN – Lincoln head coach Neil Alexander made it clear
after the game: although Southeast entered Friday’s game against the
Railers winless in six games, he strongly believes the Spartans will
be a very good team next season.
Fortunately for the Railers, they played the 2025-26 edition of
Southeast and handled the Spartans 49-33 in a game that felt much
closer throughout than the final score indicates.
“Southeast has been down a couple years,” Alexander said. “But I
tell you what: that’s the kind of Southeast team that we used to see
that would get up into you and be tough and fight and make you earn
everything. I don’t think we were as sharp as what we have been, but
give them some credit, because they brought it; they were ready to
play. They were playing really hard, and they’re going to be
something in another year. I think they’re a year away from making
some noise.”
There was no doubt Southeast had the athleticism to compete with
Lincoln. The Spartans jumped out to an 11-4 lead after one quarter
as Lamar Coleman provided much of the firepower, hitting
three-pointers to open and close the scoring in the period.
Bryce Vlahovich
Lincoln stormed back with a 6-0 run to open the second quarter as
Bryce Vlahovich and Tate Aue each hit three pointers, giving the
Railers a 12-11 lead.
The 6-0 run by the Railers was a part of a larger outburst by
Lincoln. LCHS used a balanced attack in outscoring Southeast 20-6 in
the quarter, with five different Railsplitters scoring points in the
period. Lincoln’s scoring proficiency turned an 11-6 first quarter
deficit into a 26-17 Railer advantage at halftime.
The Railers sizzled from the floor in the first half, hitting 10 of
18 shots from the field (55.6 percent) including shooting 50 percent
on treys (three of six).
Tate Aue
The third quarter saw the teams score eight points each, allowing
the Railers to maintain a nine-point advantage heading into the
fourth quarter. In the final period, following a Kev'Ron House
basket for Southeast, Aue hit one of his two treys on the night to
give Lincoln its first double-digit lead of the game, 37-27.
[to top of second column] |
Hunter Clark
A few minutes later, following a Vlahovich field goal for Lincoln
and a Trevan Caldwell three-pointer to pull the Spartans to within
nine points, the Railers went on a 10-3 run to finish the game.
Karson Komnick and Brody Tungate provided most of the points, but
Hunter Clark made a nice fake and hit a left-handed shot underneath
for a Railer field goal during the stretch.
Komnick led the Railers with 20 points. Tungate added 11 points for
Lincoln. Aue scored six points, Breon McKinnie and Vlahovich had
five points each and Clark chipped in with two points.
Railer head coach Neil Alexander said after the game that, while
he’s glad his team got the win, he’d like to see his players open
the game with more of a sense of urgency.
“I thought we started off real slow and real passive,” Alexander
said. “Even on the very first possession, we’re standing there and
they came up and basically just knocked us to the ground. I’m
looking at our guys; I think that’s when I may have taken a
timeout…and I don’t like using timeouts in the first half.”
Lincoln is now 7-2 overall. Southeast falls to 0-7. The game did not
count toward the teams’ Central State 8 Conference records.
The Railers will have a 24-hour turnaround before they are back on
the court, as Lincoln hosts Springfield in a CS8 game. The JV game
starts at 5:30 PM with the varsity contest to follow at 7 PM.
Alexander said he anticipates a very tough game against the Senators
and said that a large crowd of Railer fans in the stands would be a
definite advantage for his squad.
“The next one will be a real tough one but a fun one,” said
Alexander, who picked up win No. 985 in his coaching career
(including 826 at Lincoln) with the victory over Southeast. “We’re
only as good as our ‘sixth man.’ Hopefully Railer Nation will be
here and support the kids, because I’m hoping you’ll see a really,
really good basketball game.
[Loyd Kirby]
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