Strong start, improved intensity carry Railers to 37-33 win over Bellville West

 

[November 28, 2024]  LINCOLN – A popular sports adage states “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

Wednesday night in Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium, the Railer boys basketball team showed that, sometimes, it’s because of how you start that carries you to the finish. The Railers saw a double-digit halftime lead slowly evaporate to 2 points with 30 seconds left as Lincoln hung on to defeat Belleville West 37-33 in the 34th Annual Lincoln Eaton Round Robin Tournament at LCHS.

The win moved the Railers’ record to 1-1 while the Maroons dropped to 1-1.

Belleville West jumped out to a 7-2 advantage before LCHS came back to tie the score 7-7 with 48 seconds left in the first quarter. Karson Komnick then converted a 3-point play to give the Railers their first lead at 10-7 just before the end of the period, and Lincoln would never trail in the remainder of the game. The second quarter saw the Maroons claw their way back, and Belleville West pulled to within a point when Nicholas Hankins, Jr. hit a jumper a couple of minutes into the period to make the score 12-11. The Railers held the Maroons scoreless for the remainder of the quarter, going on an 11-0 run and increasing the Lincoln lead to 23-11 at halftime. Railer senior Gabe Smith scored 6 of his 12 points on the night during the stretch.

Railer head coach Neil Alexander said he was pleased overall with the tweaks the coaching staff made in preparation for Belleville West following Lincoln’s 48-44 loss on Monday to Champaign Centennial.

“We were really happy with the first half,” he said. “We made some adjustments, the kids executed, and it was pretty good. They [Belleville West] shot the ball exceptionally well Monday [a 73-39 win over Danville], and we were really worried about that. Instead of them being on the line and shooting it from 20 feet, we wanted them to shoot it from 23 feet or 24 feet. It seemed to work until we got tired in the second half.”

Although Lincoln held a 12-point advantage over Belleville West at halftime, the Railers did not by any means have an easy time securing the victory.

The Maroons outscored Lincoln by three points in the third quarter to trim the Railer advantage to 29-20 going into the final period. Belleville West cut the lead to six by scoring the first three points of the quarter before Karson Komnick hit one of two free throws twice to give Lincoln a 31-23 lead. Micah May hit a 3-pointer for the Maroons to cut Lincoln’s lead to 31-26 before Drew Hayes hit a shot in the paint with four minutes remaining to extend the Lincoln lead to 33-26. The field goal by Hayes proved to be Lincoln’s only one in the final period. However, the Railers hit 4 of 6 free throws in crunch time, including 4 of 4 in the final minute, to escape with a 37-33 win.

Belleville West outscored the Railers 13-8 in the final quarter and 22-14 in the second half. But Lincoln’s performance before intermission was strong enough to carry the Railers to victory.

“If we could play 32 minutes the way we played the first 16, we’d be in great shape,” Alexander said. “The second half, I don’t think we played with a lot of savvy out there and made a lot of silly things out there. But that’s why you play; we’re going to get better.”

Alexander said he was pleased with his team’s overall effort.

“We rebounded really hard tonight,” he said. “Our kids played exceptionally hard; I can’t complain about that.”

Komnick led all scorers with 15 points on the evening. Smith added 12 for the Railers, who shot 40.6 percent (13 of 32) overall from the field. After compiling a 10-of-24 mark from the free throw line in Monday night’s loss to Centennial, Lincoln hit 9 of 13 free throws (69.2 percent) against Belleville West.

The Maroons were led in scoring by Hankins, Jr. with 11 points while May added 10.

Both teams will be back in action Friday when the tournament resumes play following the Thanksgiving holiday. Belleville West will face Champaign Centennial in a 6:15 PM game while Lincoln hosts Danville at 7:45 PM.

In the other scheduled game Wednesday, Mt. Zion defeated Springfield 59-46.

Tuesday’s results were:
Mt. Zion 64, Cahokia 55
Belleville Althoff 69, Springfield 67
Champaign Centennial 66, Danville 61 (OT @ Danville)

After the games from the first three days of the tournament, the pool standings are as follows:

Red Pool
Belleville Althoff 2-0
Mt. Zion 2-0
Springfield 0-2
Cahokia 0-2

Green Pool
Champaign Centennial 2-0
Lincoln 1-1
Belleville West 1-1
Danville 0-2

The Friday 11/29 schedule of games is:
• 3 pm - Mt. Zion vs. Belleville Althoff
• 4:30 pm - Cahokia vs. Springfield
• 6:15 pm - Champaign Centennial vs. Belleville West
• 7:45 pm - Lincoln vs. Danville

Teams’ games on Saturday will be determined by their finish in pool play. The Saturday 11/30 schedule is:
• 3 pm - 7th Place - Green #4 vs. Red #4
• 4:30 pm - 5th Place - Green #3 vs. Red #3
• 6:15 pm - 3rd Place - Green #2 vs. Red #2
• 7:45 pm - Championship - Green #1 vs. Red #1
 

[Loyd Kirby]