Aue keys Railer 4th-quarter
comeback with ‘magical’ shooting; Lincoln beats Springfield 44-43
[December 22, 2025]
LINCOLN -- The Railer boys basketball team got some late-game
heroics from Tate Aue as the junior hit a trio of three-pointers in
the fourth quarter to give Lincoln its first lead of the second half
and propel LCHS to a 44-43 win over Springfield.
The Senators entered the game spotless 3-0 record in Central State 8
play to go along with a 6-3 overall mark.
“Kevin Causley is doing a very good job with them,” Railer head
coach Neil Alexander said of the Springfield first-year coach. “He’s
trying to instill some discipline and so forth, and they’re going to
be a hard out. They’re very talented. They’re very, very good.
They’re very athletic.”
After a tough victory Friday night against Southeast, it was of
particular interest to see how the Railer players performed playing
games on consecutive days. Against, Springfield on Saturday night,
the score was close throughout the first period, but Lincoln ended
the frame on a 6-2 run to take a 14-9 lead into the second quarter.
The Railer players who scored those six points—Brody Tungate and
Karson Komnick--continued exhibiting their scoring prowess to open
the second quarter, duo of seniors hitting layups after Springfield
turnovers against Lincoln’s 1-2-2 ball press defense.
But the Senators heated up later in the period, as brothers Elijah
Wade and Noah Wade connected on an alley-oop slam dunk on a fast
break to pull the Senators to within a point of Lincoln, 20-19.
Springfield closed out the first half scoring with three unanswered
treys--one each by Elijah Wade, Will Collins and Ed Horton. That 9-0
run by Springfield capped a quarter in which the Senators outscored
Lincoln 19-9. Springfield led 28-23 at halftime.
The teams played a fairly even third quarter, with LCHS outscoring
Springfield in the period 9-8 to close the score to 36-32 in favor
of the Senators. Springfield opened the final period by holding the
ball on offense, and SHS scored the first points of the quarter when
J'Mere Macon banked in a three-pointer. But Macon was assessed a
foul for flopping and pretending to be fouled on the shot. However,
the points counted and put Springfield up 39-33.
Tate Aue then swung the momentum back to Lincoln in a big way. The
junior scored Lincoln’s next nine points on a trio of
three-pointers. Springfield added a basket before Aue’s last trey
and the score stood at 42-41 in favor of the Railers with three
minutes remaining.
The next Springfield possession saw Macon get called for another
flop; with it being the second such infraction, he was assessed a
technical foul.
Komnick hit the ensuing pair of free throws for Lincoln and the
Railers led 44-41. Both teams hit a scoring drought over the next
two minutes until Noah Wade scored on a drive to the basket for
Springfield and slice the Lincoln lead to 44-43.
After a Springfield timeout with 13 seconds remaining, the Senators
fouled Lincoln to stop the clock. Tungate missed the free throws,
and the Senators advanced the ball to midcourt, where they called
timeout with 6.6 seconds remaining and Lincoln clinging to a 44-43
lead.
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Tate Aue
With the Senators not in the bonus yet, Lincoln
fouled Springfield shortly after SHS inbounded the ball. That took
roughly three seconds off the clock, so the Senators inbounded the
ball again from near midcourt with 3.8 second remaining.
A last-second shot by Springfield near the 10-foot line on the
volleyball court bounced off the back iron of the rim, and the
Railers escaped with a 44-43 victory.
After the game, LCHS head coach Neil Alexander thought perhaps
Springfield did Lincoln a favor by electing to hold the ball to
begin the fourth quarter.
“A lot of teams do that and they break their own momentum,”
Alexander said. “When you’re playing a team that’s talented like
that, sometimes you hope they hold the ball. If you’re within
striking distance…I think it was a 4- or 6-point lead when they
tried to hold it. And then Tate did his magical thing.”
That “magical thing” by Aue was hitting the back-to-back-to-back
three pointers for the Railers in the final stanza for nine of his
12 points on the night. Lincoln’s only other scoring included 17
points by Tungate and 15 by Komnick.
Overall, Lincoln hit 47.1 percent from the field (16 for 34),
including seven for 13 (53.8 percent) on attempted three pointers.
The Senators shot 16-of-32 from the field (50 percent), which
included 46.7 percent (seven for 15) on three-point attempts.
After seeing his team get off to some sluggish starts and stretches
of looking uninspired, Alexander said he was pleased to see some
energy and enthusiasm from his players.
“We finally saw a little bit of fire tonight,” he said. “That was a
great win for us, and I think Tuesday will be a challenge for us,
because Pontiac’s pretty good.”
[Loyd Kirby]
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