Railer basketball team overcomes
sluggish start to defeat Mt. Zion, 32-28
[January 24, 2026]
MT. ZION, ILL. -- The Railer basketball team didn’t play its
best game Friday night but managed to escape with a 32-28 victory at
Mt. Zion.
“To me, we didn’t show up,” said Railer head coach Neil Alexander.
“They [Mt. Zion] brought it to us and we just sat back and let them
do what they wanted offensively.”
Bryce Vlahovich
The Braves jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to a pair of baskets by
Connor Cuddy. But Bryce Vlahovich put Lincoln on the scoreboard with
a three-pointer to pull the Railers to within a point at 4-3.
The hosts stretched the lead to 10-3 before Railer head coach Neil
Alexander called an early (for him) timeout. After the break,
Lincoln pulled closer with baskets from Karson Komnick and Brody
Tungate to make the score 10-7 heading into the second quarter.
On their first possession of the period, the Railers worked the ball
around and got a trey from Tate Aue to tie the score 10-10.
Mt. Zion went cold from the field as the Braves had trouble against
Lincoln’s zone defense. Mt. Zion did not score in the period.
Unfortunately, Lincoln didn’t fare much better. The Railers could
only manage four more points in the frame on field goals by Komnick
and Tungate, as Lincoln led 14-10 at halftime.
Mt. Zion’s first score of the third quarter came on a three-pointer
by Jordan Sams. After a pair of Railer free throws by Brett Hayes,
Sams hit another trey for the Braves to knot the score at 16-all.
Lincoln took an 18-16 lead into the final quarter thanks to a pair
of made free throws by Komnick. After Brody Lipa made a basket for
Mt. Zion to tie the score 18-18, Railer Preston Short hit a
three-pointer on his first shot attempt of the game to give Lincoln
a 21-18 advantage.
Preston Short
“He’s getting a little more comfortable as time goes on,” Alexander
said of Short, who missed the first half of the season due to a
collarbone injury. “I thought that was the biggest shot of the
night.”
After the Braves failed to score, Lincoln looked for a good shot on
offense. Offensive rebounds by Tungate and Short kept the possession
alive until Tate Aue nailed a three-pointer to extend the Railer
lead to 24-16.
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Following the Lincoln basket, Tungate stole the ball and got it to
Short, who was fouled while attempting to shoot. Short hit the
ensuing free throws to increase the Lincoln lead to 26-18.
“Right there, that little segment of about a minute was very key
where we got a lead,” Alexander said.
Mt. Zion outscored Lincoln 8-2 over the next two minutes to trim the
Railer lead to 28-26. But Komnick hit four of four free throw
attempts down the stretch to grow the Railer lead to 32-26.
“We were trying to get him [Komnick] the ball,” Alexander said.
“He’s the one we want at the line in those situations. We just got
it to the right person and he made the plays. That was clutch.”
Cuddy got an uncontested rebound basket in the lane for Mt. Zion
with four seconds remaining to make the final score 32-28.
Karson Komnick
Komnick was the only player in the game who scored in double
figures; he had 10 points. Aue notched eight, Short had five,
Tungate scored four, Vlahovich tallied three and Hayes finished with
two.
Cuddy and Sams had nine points each to lead Mt. Zion.
The win improves Lincoln’s overall record to 18-4. The Railers have
now won three in a row and nine of their last 10 games.
The victory also moves Neil Alexander’s career win total as a head
coach to 997.
With the loss, Mt. Zion falls to 7-13.
The next scheduled game for the Railers is Saturday 1/24 at Rock
Island starting at 6 PM. At press time, the game was still scheduled
to take place. With the potential for bad weather looming, Alexander
said a decision about whether the game would take place probably
would be made around noon and would be posted on the Railer
basketball Facebook page.
After the contest scheduled for 1/24 at Rock Island, the next games
slated for the Railers include:
• 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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