Railers defeat Danville 61-43, play for 3rd place in tourney Saturday

 

[November 30, 2024]  LINCOLN – Free throws can win or lose basketball games. They can help a team win or lose championships. And in the case of the LCHS boys basketball team, free throws can also give—or deny—a chance to play for a championship.

The Railers entered their Friday night game against Danville in the Lincoln Eaton Round Robin Tournament needing a win to have a chance to play for the tournament championship on Saturday. In addition, Lincoln would need some assistance from Belleville West on Friday night in the form of the Maroons knocking off Champaign Centennial.

As fate would have it, both scenarios came to fruition, as Lincoln beat Danville 61-43 and Belleville West defeated Centennial 64-61. Those results gave Lincoln, Belleville West and Centennial identical 3-1 records in their pool of the tournament.

According to the tournament rules, the first tiebreaker for teams with identical records is team free throw percentage. None of the three 3-1 squads were stellar from the free throw line in the tournament. Hampered by a 10-for-24 performance from the charity stripe in their loss Monday night to Centennial, the Railers finished the tournament with an overall team free throw percentage of 56 percent (28 of 50). Belleville West accrued an overall team percentage of 55.3 from the free throw line. Champaign Centennial, however, hit 56.8 percent of its free throws, earning the Chargers the right to play for the tournament championship on Saturday.

Centennial will face Mt. Zion for the championship Saturday night, while Lincoln will take on Belleville Althoff for third place.

Lincoln head coach Neil Alexander stressed to his team the importance of making free throws, and following the loss Monday night, Alexander said the team’s focus shifted.

“After we got beat Monday night, our goal became ‘let’s get out of here 3-and-1,’” he said. “That goal is within reach. We’ve got to come to play tomorrow, because that is a good basketball team. And that team is going to be a whole lot better by Christmastime.”

While Althoff fell to Mt. Zion in the 3 PM game of the tournament Friday, the football teams of Althoff and Mt. Zion both played in championship games on Friday at the IHSA State Finals in Normal. While Mt. Zion’s football game didn’t take place until after the team’s basketball game, Althoff played in the Class 1A state title game starting at 10 AM. Alexander said the performance of Althoff’s basketball squad in the 3 PM game Friday was not indicative of how good the Crusader team is.

“They didn’t shoot it very well today,” Alexander said of Belleville Althoff. “But you’ve got to remember: those kids got up early this morning, they drove up and watched the football game at ten o’clock. They were out in the cold for four or five hours, and that there takes a toll on you. And they’ll be a much better team tomorrow; they didn’t shoot it well. They’ve got shooters all over the floor; they’re not as physical as what these other teams are, but they know how to play. They’re basketball players.”

Lincoln played its way into the third place game by knocking off Danville on Friday. The Railers took a lead in the contest before any time expired off the clock, as Danville was assessed a technical foul for dunking during warmups. Karson Komnick hit one of the two technical shots to give Lincoln a 1-0 advantage.

Danville came back, however, outscoring the Railers 7-1 during the first four minutes of the game to take a 7-2 lead. Lincoln recaptured the lead following a 6-0 run thanks to a Drew Hayes three-pointer, a free throw by Gabe Smith and a pair of foul shots by Blake Horn. Danville countered with a putback by C.L. Dye to retake the lead 9-8, but Komnick hit a three-pointer to give Lincoln an 11-9 lead, a lead the Railers would not relinquish the rest of the game. Hayes hit another trey to close out the first period scoring.

Lincoln held a 14-9 lead after the first quarter and went on to outscore the Vikings in each remaining quarter of the game: 13-9 in the second, 17-14 in the third and 17-11 in the fourth.

The Lincoln lead hovered around the 10-point mark most of the contest. Komnick hit a three-pointer a minute into the final period, and that began a 7-0 run by the Railers to push their lead to 51-34, with Hayes and Brody Tungate getting buckets for LCHS. Danville’s Javaughn Robinson, who led the visitors with 15 points, hit a field goal for the Vikings before Lincoln’s Brady Miller hit a three-pointer than a two-pointer to give LCHS its largest lead of the night at 56-36.

Lincoln shot 50 percent from the field (22 of 44), including 8 of 17 (47.1 percent) on three-pointers. The eight three-pointers were a welcome sight in the Railer box score after Lincoln had made a combined total of only four treys in the previous two games.

“We did learn to dribble-drive and kick, and that’s the best kind of shot to shoot the three [pointer],” Alexander said. “You get the ball inside-out and you’re stepping into your shot. When that happens, you’re a much, much better shooter. We want to make sure we get that done, and the kids done a better job of that.”

The Railers had three players in double figures with Hayes scoring 19, Komnick adding 16 and Gabe Smith contributing 10. Miller chipped in with 7, Tungate tallied 4 and Blake Horn had another solid effort, adding 5 points to go with 5 rebounds and 2 steals while filling in for the injured Frank Sanders.

After scoring 44 and 37 points in their first two games, the 61 points of offense against Danville was the Railers’ highest total for the young season. Lincoln surpassed the 60-point mark only five times last season.

“For us to score a lot of points—and 61 is a lot for us—we have to score on back doors, we have to be able to step in and hit our three, and so forth,” Alexander said. “I think we missed some easy ones, but I think we’re getting better. We’re much better than we were Monday night.”

The results of all Friday games in the tournament were:
• Mt. Zion 61, Belleville Althoff 53
• Springfield 72, Cahokia 43
• Belleville West 64, Champaign Centennial 61
• Lincoln 61, Danville 43

The final standings for the two pools of teams in the tournament are:

Red Pool
• Mt. Zion 3-0
• Belleville Althoff 2-1
• Springfield 1-2
• Cahokia 0-3

Green Pool*
• Champaign Centennial 2-1
• Lincoln 2-1
• Belleville West 2-1
• Danville 0-3
*First, second and third places determined by team free throw percentages
 

The schedule for the final day of the tournament is:

• 3 PM - 7th Place - Danville vs. Cahokia
• 4:30 PM - 5th Place - Belleville West vs. Springfield
• 6:15 PM - 3rd Place - Lincoln vs. Belleville Althoff
• 7:45 PM - Championship - Champaign Centennial vs. Mt. Zion

[Loyd Kirby]