Champaign Central surges ahead late to defeat Railers 43-37

 

[February 22, 2025]  CHAMPAIGN – While coaches dislike losing, some coaches will say that a loss can sometimes wake a team up and give them renewed focus.

Here’s to hoping such is the case for the Railer boys basketball team, as LCHS squandered a 12-point lead in the second half and Champaign Central stunned Lincoln 43-37.

“We had this one, and we just didn’t finish it,” Railer coach Neil Alexander said after the loss. “We were up 12 and turned it over five straight times. You’re going to have a hard time competing and winning a game like that.”

The game against Central was a nonconference game, and on Valentine’s Day the Railers learned they received the No. 1 seeding in their regional pod to begin the postseason. So, in essence, the results of the game against the Maroons meant nothing as the only thing the loss directly impacted was Lincoln’s overall win-loss record. But, Alexander noted, he didn’t want his squad to simply erase their memories of the game without learning from it.

“It’s not the kind of game you want to finish the year on when you’re getting ready to go into a regional,” he said. “We’ve got try to regroup and go at it and talk about what we have to do, what we didn’t do the right way and maybe watch more film than practice so they [the Railers] can see what they did.

“When you’ve got athletes and you can pressure…you can see what pressure does to us. We have to be able to handle that.”

The Railers held an early lead in the first quarter as Champaign Central appeared to be uncertain how to attack Lincoln’s halfcourt 1-2-2 zone defense. After senior Chris Bush hit a three-pointer for the Maroons, Champaign Central held a 5-4 lead near the midway point of the period. But a Brody Tungate free throw, a stop-and-pop jumper from the free throw line by Karson Komnick and a layup by Frank Sanders gave Lincoln an 8-5 lead. Central notched a free throw before the end of the quarter to cut Lincoln’s lead to 8-6 heading into the second frame.

Komnick added seven points in the second period and Lincoln got five points from Drew Hayes to outscore the Maroons 12-5 in the frame and stretch the Lincoln lead to 20-11 at intermission.

“We played great defense the first half,” Alexander said. “The second half, I don’t know where we went.”

The Railers got their first points of the second half on a three pointer by Komnick to increase their lead to a dozen, 23-11. But Lincoln then went four straight possessions without scoring as Central went on a 7-0 run to pull within five points at 23-18. The Railers got a free throw and two points on a goaltending call against Central before the Maroons scored seven more straight points. Gabe Smith made an acrobatic layup while being bumped on a no-call drive to the hoop before Bush drained another three pointer for Central to knot the score at 28-28.

The score ebbed and flowed through the first few minutes of the final period. After Drew Hayes grabbed a rebound of a missed Maroon shot and tossed it ahead to Smith for a layup, Lincoln held a 35-32 advantage. But Central got the ball back to Bush, who hit his fourth trey of the game to tie the score 35-35.

The Railers worked the ball around before Komnick drove to the hoop on a layup attempt. He appeared to get fouled on the shot and fell to the floor, visibly in pain. The whistle sounded, and Railer Frank Sanders was called for a foul while going for the rebound, giving the Maroons the ball out of bounds.

“I don’t complain about officials, because I thought they called a pretty darn good game for about 28 minutes,” Alexander said. “And then they decided not to call anything. I thought they missed three on us going to the basket, and it takes free throws away from us. And that was the difference in the game at that point.”

Central worked the ball around the perimeter before Aidyn Beck hit a three pointer from the right corner to give the Maroons a 38-35 lead. The teams traded field goals before Central scored the last three points of the game, and Central won 43-37.

The Railers were led by Karson Komnick with 12 points. Drew Hayes added 11, Sanders had seven, Smith tallied six and Brody Tungate notched one. Shooting statistics from the field were unavailable after the game, but the Railers made only six of 14 free throws on the night. Lincoln dropped to 21-10 with the loss.

Bush led all players with 20 points, including four three-pointers. It was announced after the third quarter that the 6-foot-6 senior surpassed 1,500 points for his career. The win moved Central’s record to 15-12.

“They’re a good basketball team,” Alexander said. “But so are we if we don’t turn the ball over and we hit free throws.”

Lincoln has a few days to regroup before opening play in the IHSA regional held at Southeast High School in Springfield. Top-seeded Lincoln takes on the host school on Wednesday at 6 PM. Southeast finished the regular season with a 2-28 overall record and a 0-11 mark in the Central State 8.

The winner of the Lincoln-Southeast game will face the winner of the Taylorville-Rochester contest, scheduled to tip off Wednesday night at 7:30 following Lincoln’s game.