Railers hold on to win 43-42 over Rockford East

 

[January 06, 2025]  LINCOLN – While basketball coaches have differing opinions regarding breaks in their schedules, there’s little doubt Railer head coach Neil Alexander welcomed the six-day hiatus from games his team got.

The break gave enough mending time for one Railer to return to action, as Karson Komnick a dozen points and hit what turned out to be the game-winning shot in Lincoln’s 43-42 win over Rockford East on Saturday night.

“We’ve had a few ankle sprains and things,” Alexander said in reflecting on the injuries his past squads endured, “but nothing like we’ve got now.”

Conventional thinking might say that, 14 games into the season, Alexander’s team should know all the Railer plays, systems and schemes by now. And they most likely do. The proverbial wrench that’s been thrown into that learning process has been the rash of injuries to the team.

Three-fifths of the starting lineup—Drew Hayes, Frank Sanders and Komnick—have spent more time on the sidelines as of late than on the court due to injuries. Not only does this mean Alexander is down in sheer numbers on his roster, he also must juggle his lineup, sometimes moving players to play in unfamiliar positions, which has had a domino effect on his player rotations and ability to plan with any certainty to use certain lineups in particular situations.

No matter the lineup he puts on the court, however, Alexander expects his teams to play hard and with purpose. Early on Saturday night against the visiting E-Rabs, it looked as if even that staple of Railer basketball might be another casualty in the Railer season. Rockford East jumped out to a 5-0 lead, thanks in part to Lincoln turning the ball over before ever getting off a shot in its first two possessions.

But two minutes into the opening frame, senior Gabe Smith tried to ignite the Railer. First, he made a strong drive to the basket, hitting the layup while absorbing contact and completing the conventional three-point play to tie the game. Then on the defensive end, he came up with a steal which led to a three-pointer by Blake Horn to give the Railers a 6-5 lead.

It doesn’t show up in the scoring totals, but perhaps the most significant play of the game for Lincoln occurred with 1:39 left in the period. That’s when Karson Komnick, the senior guard who’s been on the shelf with a wrist injury, entered the game for the Railers, the first time he’d been on the court since December 10.

Lincoln trailed 10-9 after the first quarter, but outscored Rockford East 13-10 in the second period, with Smith, Komnick, Brody Tungate and Brady Miller all tallying points for the Railers. Lincoln led 23-20 at intermission.

The teams continued battling through the third quarter. Lincoln opened up a four-point advantage at one point when a Blake Horn jumper gave Lincoln a 26-22 lead. But neither team could distance itself from the other, and with under a minute left, Rockford East snared an offensive rebound and worked the ball to MiKwan Marshall, who drained the 3-pointer and tied the game 33-all.

Karson Komnick

But Lincoln worked the ball around and got the ball to Komnick, who drained a three-pointer for the Railers from the left corner to give Lincoln a 36-33 lead going into the final quarter.

Riding the momentum from Komnick’s late trey, the Railers built their biggest lead at 40-33 thanks to a pair of baskets by Horn. But while Lincoln has been able to get leads in games, it hasn’t always been able to close out games strong to maintain those leads.

Following the second of the two fourth-quarter baskets by Horn, the Railers next offensive trips down the floor resulted in: missed shot, offensive foul, turnover, turnover, turnover, missed shot. In that same stretch, REHS amassed seven points to knot the score 40-40. And when Marquis Goldsmith scored a field goal for Lincoln, the E-Rabs to the lead 42-40.

Head Coach Neil Alexander

“We had a seven-point lead with three minutes to go, and we just can’t hang onto it,” Alexander said after the game. “We have poor shot selection. In the past, if we get a seven-point lead with three minutes left, we’re going to be on the free throw line, and we’re going to make them. [This season], we want to just go in and one or two dribbles and just throw up a shot. What’s bothering me is we’re not learning from it, because it basically happened last week, and we lost that one [Lincoln’s 39-37 loss to Triad in the Prairie Farms Classic Tournament in Collinsville].

“You have to be able to take care of it and handle things.”

Fortunately for the Railers, the Goldsmith basket wasn’t a last-second shot, so Lincoln had plenty of time to execute its own offense. And with 1:16 remaining in the quarter, Komnick drained his second three-pointer of the night to give Lincoln a 43-42 advantage.

Rockford East decided to hold the ball before getting into its offense so as to take time off the clock and not give Lincoln as much time to work with if the E-Rabs scored and the Railers got another possession. With nine seconds remaining, MiKwan Marshall put up a three-pointer for REHS that missed the mark. Gabe Smith corralled the rebound for Lincoln and was promptly fouled. But since Lincoln was not yet in the bonus, the Railers had to inbound the ball. They did so and got it to Brody Tungate, who was fouled with 1.6 seconds remaining. Tungate missed the first of his two free throws, then intentionally missed the second. A desperation heave by REHS fell short, and Lincoln escaped with a 43-42 win.

“The timing is off, and it bothers me,” Alexander said of his team’s performance. “We have spent so much time on our offense and not enough on our defense. I threatened them at half and said, ‘Hey, we’re not even bringing balls out next week,’ because I thought our defense wasn’t very good either. We’re going to win with defense anyway, and we kind of buttoned down there towards the end in the last 17 seconds. We’ve got to get tougher.”

One area Alexander hoped to shore up during the team’s halftime adjustments was its rebounding. While Rockford East only held a 12-8 rebounding advantage in the first half, Lincoln was outrebounded 29-17 for the game, including 10 offensive rebounds for the E-Rabs.

“We’re not going to jump over anybody, so we better be fundamentally sound,” Alexander said. “We spend 15 minutes a day on blocking off and rebounding. From a coaching side, it looks like ‘Well, we’ll go through the motions, but it doesn’t mean anything.’

“We put things in our practice that gives us problems in a game to try to take care of those problems. We’ve got to take what we’re going in practice and apply it in a game.”

Blake Horn

Horn led the Railers with 14 points. Komnick added 12 and Smith tallied 10.

Rockford East senior Marshall led all scorers with 16.

Lincoln has another six-day break from games before the Railers host Glenwood at home Friday in a Central State 8 game. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 PM.

[Loyd Kirby]