Railer basketball team uses late
free throw efficiency to beat Jacksonville 50-38
[December 08, 2025]
SPRINGFIELD -- The LCHS basketball team notched its first
Central State 8 victory of the season as three Railer players scored
in double figures Saturday when Lincoln defeated Jacksonville 50-38
as part of the Capital City Showcase.
Tate Aue
The Railers outscored Jacksonville to take a 10-8 after the first
quarter. After a Jacksonville field goal to open the scoring in the
second period, Lincoln went on 8-0 run to make it 18-10. The Railers
led 25-17 near the end of the first half when Tate Aue hit a
three-pointer as the buzzer signaling the end of the period sounded
to put Lincoln up 28-17.
Jacksonville opened the second half by switching to a 1-3-1 zone
defense, an alignment Railer coach Neil Alexander said after the
game his squad had not prepared much for thus far this year. Whether
it was the defense that gave Lincoln problems or simply a stretch of
cold shooting, the Railer offense cooled off considerably in the
third period. Brody Tungate and Brett Hayes sandwiched a
Jacksonville field goal with two-pointers of their own in the first
minute of the quarter for Lincoln, but that was all the offense the
Railers got in the stanza.
After the basket by Hayes, Lincoln missed two two-point field goals
and four three-pointers in addition to turning the ball over once in
the remainder of the stanza. Fortunately for the Railers, their
opponents didn’t fare much better from the field in the period, as
Jacksonville could only muster five additional points in the
remainder of the quarter, outscoring Lincoln 7-4 in the period and
giving LCHS a 32-24 advantage heading into the final quarter.
Bryce Vlahovich
Jacksonville got a trey from Jeremiah Jackson to open the fourth
period scoring and draw the Crimsons to within five points at 32-27.
The Railers then went on a 10-1 run to distance themselves from
Jacksonville 42-28. Tate Aue hit two of his four three-pointers on
the night during the stretch, with the other four points coming from
pairs of made free throws by Brody Tungate and Bryce Vlahovich.
The quarter became a free throw shooting contest for Lincoln, and
the Railers passed. In all, Lincoln hit 12 of 14 shots from the
charity stripe in the period, powering LCHS to an 18-14 advantage in
the quarter and a 50-38 victory over Jacksonville.
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The Railers won the contest by hitting their free throws and with
superior shooting on three pointers. Each team made 14 field goals
during the game, but Lincoln hit 34.8 percent of its three-point
attempts (eight of 23) while Jacksonville only sank three of 23 (13
percent) of its three-point shots. From the free throw line, Lincoln
hit 14 of 16 attempts (87.5 percent) while the Crimsons made 53.8
percent (seven of 13).
One factor that allowed Jacksonville to keep within striking
distance most of the contest was rebounding, as the Crimsons
outboarded Lincoln 29-17 in the game, including 11 offensive
rebounds for Jacksonville.
The Railers were led in scoring by Karson Komnick with 19 points.
Brody Tungate added 13, Tate Aue scored 12 points on four
three-pointers, Bryce Vlahovich tallied four points and Brett Hayes
contributed two points.
Jacksonville was led by Masen Johnson with 14 points and 10
rebounds. Troy DeFrates added 10 points for the Crimsons.
Lincoln moves to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the Central State 8. With
the loss, Jacksonville drops to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in league play.
While Alexander was pleased to notch a victory, he said he would
like to see his team play with a bit more urgency.
Head Coach Neil Alexander
“You have to be physical and you have to attack the basketball,”
Alexander said. “We’re just complacent. I think the kids have got it
in them, but we didn’t play with an edge.
“We’ve got to continue to get better, and I think these kids want to
get better. They’ve got to be aggressive, and I don’t think we were
aggressive tonight.”
Lincoln’s next game comes when the Railers travel to Rochester on
Tuesday for a 7 PM game that counts toward Central State 8
Conference standings.
[Loyd Kirby]
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