Railers win third straight with 45-34 victory over Jacksonville

 

[January 29, 2025]  LINCOLN – The Railer boys basketball team avenged an earlier loss this season to Jacksonville when LCHS beat the Crimsons 45-34 on Tuesday night.

The victory was the third in a row for Lincoln following a three-game losing streak. The win moved the Railers’ overall record to 13-8 but does not impact the teams’ conference records. When CS8 teams play multiple scheduled games during the season, only the first contest is counted in conference standings. Since the Crimsons defeated Lincoln 55-46 back on December 13, that contest is the one which is counted in league standings.

The December 13 tilt between the two squads was the first game Lincoln played without Karson Komnick after he injured his wrist on December 10 against Southeast. Six-plus weeks later, with its roster almost back to full strength, it seems the Railers are beginning to find themselves as they get reacquainted with playing with one another on the court.

And while the team has reeled off three victories in a row, head coach Neil Alexander was not pleased with his team’s performance earning the third win Tuesday night.

Head Coach Neil Alexander

“As well as we played Saturday night, it was at the opposite end of the spectrum today,” he said. “There was no execution, and the things we did were not typical of a Railer team.”

It was a game of streaks for Lincoln in earning Win No. 13 on the season. The Railers led 5-4 midway through the opening period when LCHS reeled off a dozen consecutive points to take a 17-4 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the second quarter. The lead ballooned to 14 when Lincoln was up 23-9, but the Crimsons cut into the deficit before intermission. After Jacksonville’s Troy DeFrates got ahead of the pack for a slam dunk just before halftime, Lincoln led 23-12.

Karson Komnick

Lincoln’s lead hovered around double digits through much of the third quarter. When Karson Komnick hit a pair of free throws with 2:32 remaining in the period, the Railers led 29-16.

One area in which Coach Alexander has consistently preached about his squad needing to improve is in finishing games. Like a prize fighter who has an opponent on the ropes, Alexander would like to see his Railers bury their opponent and land a knockout punch to put them away.

Unfortunately, LCHS did not do that, and the Crimsons made a game of it. Jacksonville ran off 11 unanswered points to pull to within a basket at 29-27 one minute into the final quarter.

Drew Hayes

Drew Hayes hit a pair of field goals around a Jacksonville two-pointer to move the score to 33-29. Komnick then notched five straight points to increase Lincoln’s lead to nine, then Blake Horn hit a field goal to make it a double digit Railer lead at 40-29.

Wyatt Moore hit a three-pointer for Jacksonville to get the Crimsons within eight points, but they would get no closer as the teams exchanged baskets the remainder of the game and Lincoln won 45-34.

Komnick led all scorers with 18 points. Frank Sanders added 10 points off the bench.

One major difference in this game from the December 10 matchup was rebounding. Lincoln snared 33 rebounds in the contest, including several offensive ones.

“When we played over there, we just got totally blasted on the boards,” Alexander said. “I think they [Jacksonville] had eight or nine offensive rebounds in the first half at their place. We were much better tonight.”

It wouldn’t be a Railer game of this season without some kind of an injury, and this time it was Brody Tungate. The Railer guard did not play against Jacksonville after sustaining a bruise to the quadriceps area when he took a knee to the leg in Lincoln’s game against Rock Island.

“I know he’s really limping around,” Alexander said. “I would say he’s probably 50-50 this weekend.”

Lincoln’s next two games are nonconference contests against former Apollo Conference foes. Lincoln travels to Mattoon on Friday evening, then the Railers host Taylorville on Saturday. Both contests begin at 7 PM.

[Loyd Kirby]