Railers use 2nd-quarter surge to
defeat Bloomington, 61-42
[January 21, 2026]
BLOOMINGTON – Three players scored in double figures as the
LCHS Railer basketball team used a big second quarter surge to pull
away from Bloomington and defeat the Purple Raiders on Tuesday
night, 61-42.
“I thought in the first half, we played pretty well,” said Lincoln
head coach Neil Alexander. “We were able to execute, hit shots and
things.
“Defensively, the second half, we gave up way too many points and
allowed them to shoot the ball. We didn’t finish the game, and I
guess if there’s a negative, that’s the negative that I have is we
didn’t play very aggressive defensively the second half.”
Tate Aue
Bloomington put the first points of the game on the board when
Carter Tindall hit a basket in the lane for the Purple Raiders. But
Tate Aue struck back with a three-pointer for Lincoln to give the
Railers a 3-2 lead.
The hosts got another basket, this time from Dallas Marshall, but
that would be the last time Bloomington held a lead. Senior Brody
Tungate hit a field goal for Lincoln to give the Railers a 5-4 lead,
and LCHS would lead the rest of the contest.
Karson Komnick
Lincoln led 10-6 after the first period and used the second frame to
build a cushion over Bloomington. The Railers opened the second
period by going on a 15-1 run to build their lead to 25-7 more than
halfway through the period. Especially encouraging was the fact that
six different Railers scored points during the surge. Karson Komnick
led with seven points during the run, and LCHS got two points each
from Tungate, Hunter Clark, Preston Short and Breon McKinnie. After
a Bloomington field goal by Dallas Marshall Jr., Tungate closed out
the first half scoring with four points on a pair of free throws and
a field goal. The outburst gave Lincoln a 29-9 halftime lead.
The second half saw a flurry of activity as Bloomington tried to
make up ground and close their 20-point halftime deficit. But the
Railers were up to the challenge, as the teams each scored 20 points
in the third period to make the score 49-29 going into the fourth
quarter.
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The final period brought saw the Purple Raiders make even more of a
push to try fighting back, but the Railer lead proved to be
insurmountable. Jaden Neaville hit a three-pointer for Bloomington
at the 5:15 mark of the quarter to cut the Lincoln lead to 16 at
53-37, but that was the closest that Bloomington could get. The
Railers outscored Bloomington 8-5 the rest of the game, and Lincoln
emerged victorious with a 61-42 victory.
“Offensively, I thought we did pretty good for the most part,”
Alexander said. “We were able to execute, we hit shots. But the
defensive end was our downfall in the second half.”
Brody Tungate
Tungate led Lincoln with 19 points. Komnick added 17 and Aue tallied
16 as the Railers shot 46.7 percent (21 of 45) from the field in the
game.
Bloomington was led by Marshall with 15 points.
Lincoln won the battle of the boards, outrebounding Bloomington
31-27. Komnick snared nine rebounds to lead the Railers while Brett
Hayes grabbed six.
The win improves Lincoln’s overall record to 18-4 while Bloomington
falls to 7-14 with the loss.
The victory also moves Neil Alexander’s career win total as a head
coach to 996.
Upcoming scheduled games for the Railers include:
• Fri 1/23/2026 @ 7 PM @ Mt. Zion
• Sat 1/24/2026 @ 6 PM @ Rock Island
• Sat 1/31/2026 @ 3:30 PM @ Taylorville
• Tue 2/3/2026 @ 7 PM vs. MacArthur
• Fri 2/6/2026 @ 7 PM vs. Sacred Heart-Griffin
• Sat 2/7/2026 @ 6:30 PM vs. Lanphier.
[Loyd Kirby]
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