Railers pick up fifth consecutive
victory with 51-28 win over LaSalette Academy
[January 12, 2026]
LINCOLN -- The Railer boys basketball team picked up its
fifth victory in a row and Win No. 15 on the season in beating
first-time opponent LaSalette Academy 51-28.
With an enrollment of 196 according to the IHSA website, on paper it
appeared the Railers should make easy work of the Lions. And
although the final score showed a 23-point margin of victory for the
Railers, Lincoln head coach Neil Alexander had nothing but good
things to say about LaSalette after the game.
“What we try to do is get our kids to play hard,” Alexander said.
“Good things happen when you play hard. And LaSalette, they played
extremely hard. They moved with the ball, they were there; they
forced us into some unusual turnovers that we had tonight. I think
we had about five or six possessions in a row that we turned it
over, and that’s just lack of focus. We take care of the basketball,
and that is so uncommon from our kids.”
Lincoln jumped out to a 5-0 lead over the Lions thanks to a Brett
Hayes rebound basket and a three-pointer by Karson Komnick.
LaSalette got a three-pointer from Marco Cruz, but the Railers
responded by going on a 13-0 run to increase their lead to 18-3.
Tate Aue
LaSalette got a basket before Tate Aue closed the first-quarter
scoring with a three-pointer to stretch Lincoln’s lead to 21-5.
The Railers have been scoring inconsistently at times, sometimes
going entire quarters without putting many points on the board. They
hoped to avoid that in this game, but Lincoln could only muster five
points in the second period. The first Railer points came on a
reverse layup by Hunter Clark on a nice bounce pass feed from Brody
Tungate.
Preston Short
The other three points were significant in that they came from
Preston Short. Short, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, saw his first action
of the season with a few minutes against Lanphier on Friday after
missing the season to that point while recovering from an injury.
After getting his feet wet on Friday, Short got his first points of
the season when he made a three-pointer for LCHS.
Short’s return is significant because the overwhelming majority of
guard play this season has come from Tungate and Komnick. Alexander
has mentioned a few times throughout the season how the duo of
seniors gets worn down during games due to the relentless pressure
defense put on them by the opposition. In addition playing point
guard, Tungate often handles the point of the Lincoln 1-2-2 press,
adding to his nightly workload. As Short works his way into game
shape and into Alexander’s rotation of players, he should be able to
help shoulder some of the workload of Tungate and Komnick, helping
share some of the ballhandling duties and relieve Tungate on the
point of the press as well as being another scoring threat from the
guard position for Lincoln.
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Fortunately for Lincoln, LaSalette only outscored the Railers 9-5 in
that second period to give LCHS a 25-14 halftime advantage. A couple
minutes into the third quarter, LaSalette cut Lincoln’s lead to
single digits at 27-18. The Railers went on a 7-0 run to build the
lead back to double digits at 34-18.
Lincoln held a 34-20 lead heading into the final period. Railer Tate
Aue made sure LCHS maintained an advantage, as the 6-foot-1 junior
guard nailed four three-pointers in the quarter as Lincoln won
51-28.
Aue led Lincoln with 19 points, with all 13 of his shot attempts
coming from beyond the three-point arc. Komnick and Vlahovich added
nine points apiece, Tungate had seven, Short scored three and Hayes
and Clark chipped in with two each.
LaSalette was led by J.P. Agbapuruonwu and Benedict Blood with six
points each.
Overall the Railers shot 48.6 percent from the field, hitting 10 of
22 attempts in the first half (45.5 percent) while making 53.3
percent (eight of 15) of their shots from the field in the second
half.
Lincoln outrebounded the Lions 31-21, include six offensive rebounds
for the Railers. Vlahovich and Komnick led LCHS with seven rebounds
each. The Railers turned the ball over more than LaSalette by a
17-13 margin.
Located about 10 miles south of Danville in Georgetown, Ill.,
LaSalette opened in 2005 and is classified as a Class 1A school by
the IHSA. The IHSA web site has records for the program since 2020,
including a 20-10 mark in the 2023-24 season under LaSalette coach
Steve Roustio.
If the Roustio name sounds familiar to Railer basketball fans, it
should. LaSalette coach Steve Roustio is the son of Mel Roustino, an
IBCA Hall of Fame coach who most notably coached 21 years at
Jacksonville in addition to Edwardsville, Washington, Mason City and
Stephen Decatur/Eisenhower. In addition, the elder Roustio served as
a color analyst during the IHSA Boys Class AA basketball finals for
several years starting in 1989.
The victory improves Lincoln’s overall record to 15-3 and gives the
Railers 11 wins in their last 12 games. LaSalette falls to 7-3 with
the loss.
The next scheduled games for Lincoln are:
• Tue 1/13/2026 @ 7 PM vs. Mahomet-Seymour
• Fri 1/16/2026 @ 7 PM @ U-High
• Sat 1/17/2026 @ 6 PM vs. Quincy
The contest against U-High counts in the Central State 8 Conference
standings.
[Loyd Kirby]
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