LCHS boys basketball team beats Southeast 47-34, await word after losing leading scorer Komnick to injury

 

[December 11, 2024]  LINCOLN – Sometimes, the biggest plays in a basketball game don’t show up in the box score.

The record will show that the LCHS boys basketball team won its game Tuesday night against Central State 8 opponent Southeast by the score of 47-34. Statistics will show that, on the strength of a second quarter in which Lincoln outscored Southeast 19-8 to pull away, the Railers maintained their perfect record in the CS8 at 2-0 while winning their fifth game in a row to improve the team’s overall mark to 5-1. And all of this occurred with a depleted lineup as LCHS was playing without a pair of 6-foot-5 players, seniors Drew Hayes and Frank Sanders.

For Lincoln, however, the biggest play of the game—and perhaps the season—might look like a footnote to the casual observer, and it didn’t even garner any points for the Railers. Trailing 8-5, the Railers brought the ball across midcourt, looking to run some offense to cut into the Spartans’ lead. After a few passes around the perimeter, Brady Miller drove toward the basket from the left wing position. As he did so, the Southeast defenders slid toward the lane to clog Miller’s path to the basket.

Karson Komnick

After drawing the defenders in, Miller kicked the ball to Karson Komnick near the sideline in front of the Spartans’ bench. As Spartan defender Aaron Holman jumped out to pressure Komnick--who entered the game as Lincoln’s leading scorer this season at 16 points per game—began an angular path toward the basket.

He dribbled with his left hand toward the baseline, then after getting beyond Holman, the 6-foot-3 Lincoln junior came to a brief jump stop before leaping into the lane from just below the backboard. As he left his feet, Komnick made contact with Southeast defender Josiah Turner, who fell to the ground in drawing an offensive foul whistled against the Lincoln junior.
 

As Turner hit the ground, Komnick absorbed contact from the Southeast sophomore, and the Railer junior’s body twisted slightly as he was unable to get his feet beneath him. As a result, Komnick crashed to the ground and appeared to land awkwardly on his right hand. He immediately rolled to his left side and writhed in pain for a few seconds before LCHS athletic trainer Matt While emerged to assess Komnick’s injury. After Railer head coach Neil Alexander joined the two on the court briefly, Komnick walked off the court with While for additional examination.

Komnick did not return to action for Lincoln the rest of the game. As of this writing, what is known is that Komnick sustained an injury to his right wrist. After some preliminary examinations and testing Tuesday evening, the extent and severity of the injury is still being assessed with more evaluations slated for Wednesday. Any other information shared at this time is purely unconfirmed speculation.

Regardless of the extent of any injuries, Alexander said his LCHS squad needs to be at full strength.

“We need them all back,” Alexander said of his injured Railer players. “We’re a team that, all of them have a role on the team--and a very important role—and we’ve just got to fight through it.

“You’ve got to play with what you’ve got, and if you worry about it, then you’re really in trouble. So we’ll see what happens tonight, and we’ll make our adjustments tomorrow.”

Gabe Smith

Gabe Smith opened the scoring for the game with a field goal before Southeast hit a pair of baskets to claim a 4-2 lead. The Railers took their first lead 5-4 on a three-pointer by Komnick. Southeast then hit three straight field goals to hold a 10-5 advantage with just under two minutes remaining in the opening quarter. Lincoln then got seven straight points in the final minute of the period to retake the lead 12-10 heading into the second quarter.

Brady Miller

Brady Miller opened the second period scoring with a three pointer to push Lincoln’s lead to five points. Southeast kept the score close, and when Me'Khy Holmes sank a rebound basket for the Spartans with just over 5 minutes remaining in the period, the score was knotted at 15-15. Lincoln got one made free throw each from Smith and Bryce Vlahovich to begin a 16-3 run that made the score 31-18 at halftime.

The two squads played to a draw in the second half, each scoring 16 points to give the Railers a 47-34 final margin of victory.

Alexander said after the game he hoped for a better performance from his team, especially following a victory over a very good Sacred Heart-Griffin team on Saturday.

“I didn’t think we were mentally ready to play,” Alexander said. “And the mental approach does everything for you. It makes you aggressive defensively. It makes you a better shooter. It makes you a better defender, it makes you a better rebounder. I thought we were sluggish defensively and didn’t want to work on the little things. And we still came out on top.

“The potential for us to be very good is there. We just can’t have one game like we did on Saturday night, and then turn around three days later and play like we did tonight.”

Gabe Smith led all scorers with 17 points. Brady Miller added 14 for the Railers.

Josiah Turner led Southeast with 9 points.

Lincoln has games with a tough pair of opponents on the schedule later this week. The Railers travel to Jacksonville on December 13 for a 7 PM CS8 game against the Crimsons. Lincoln returns home December 14 for a nonconference tilt against East Peoria starting at 6:30 PM.

[Loyd Kirby]