Railers can't overcome cold start,
fall to Rock Island 50-40
[January 26, 2026]
ROCK ISLAND – Perhaps it was all the predictions about the
impending cold weather that impacted the Railer basketball team in
the first half of its game Saturday at Rock Island.
With all the forecasts of freezing temperatures and significant
snowfall over the weekend, maybe all the meteorological
conversations got inside the team’s collective consciousness and
played a role in Lincoln’s opening half of play against the Rocks.
Arthur Abbey stole the ball for Rock Island and drove it all the way
down court for a layup to open the scoring and give the Rocks a 2-0
lead.
30 seconds later, Brody Tungate hit Karson Komnick with a pass, and
Komnick slashed his way around his defender to hit a layup and knot
the score at 2-2.
Unfortunately for the Railers, those would be their only points of
the first quarter. Rock Island got four more points from Abbey and
six from Deven Marshall to take a 12-2 lead after one quarter.
Brody Tungate got the first point of the second period when he hit a
free throw. But Marshall and Abbey continued putting up points as
they scored the next seven straight for the host school. Komnick
stopped the barrage when he got a basket with just under four
minutes remaining in the opening half, but that was it for Lincoln
offensively. Rock Island sank one more free throw, and when the
buzzer sounded to signal it was halftime, the Railers had scored
just three points in the second quarter. Rock Island led 20-5.
The five-point first half was the lowest scoring output by Lincoln
in a half this season. The Railers’ next lowest total of points
scored in a half was when LCHS tallied 10 points in the first half
against Glenwood.
The scoring outputs in the quarters—two points in the first quarter,
three points in the second quarter—were among the Railers’ smallest
this season. Lincoln’s low-water mark came when LCHS scored only one
point in the second quarter against Granite City in the Railers’
opening game in the Collinsville holiday tournament. Lincoln
mustered only two points in a quarter two other times this season
(first quarter against Glenwood, third quarter against Lanphier).
And the Railers scored just three points one other time this season
(first quarter against MacArthur).
As is to be expected, the Lincoln offensive statistics told the
story. The Railers hit just two of 12 field goals attempted in the
first half, missing all six of their three-point shots. In addition,
the pesky Rock Island defense forced 11 LCHS turnovers in the
opening half.
Fortunately, the game has two halves, so Lincoln had the opportunity
to make a game of it. And, as would be expected from a Lincoln
basketball team, they gave it their all and tried to do just that.
Bryce Vlahovich
The teams scored back and forth during the early part of the period,
and when Bryce Vlahovich hit a three-pointer for Lincoln with five
minutes left in the quarter, that ignited a 12-5 run for the Railers.
Vlahovich’s trey made the score 29-14, the same 15-margin by which
the Railers trailed at halftime. But the Railers slowly clawed their
way back into the game.
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Tate Aue hit a three-pointer for the Railers to close the gap even
more. It was the first of three treys for Aue to close out the
scoring in the quarter for Lincoln with the Railers trailing 34-23
heading into the final stanza.
Breon McKinnie made a free throw for Lincoln’s first points of the
final quarter, making the score 34-24. But the Rocks put five points
on the board before Aue hit the last of his four three-pointers in
the game to make it 39-27. Tungate then sandwiched a pair of field
goals around a Rock Island free throw, cutting the Rocks’ lead to
single digits at 40-31.
Railer coach Neil Alexander decided to put Rock Island at the free
throw line, and the Railers fouled on the Rocks’ remaining
possessions with Lincoln hoping the hosts would miss their free
throws and conserve time on the game clock. The strategy paid
dividends for LCHS, as Lincoln shrunk the gap with Rock Island
missing a few free throws and the Railers scoring on the ensuring
possessions. When Komnick hit his second of three consecutive
fourth-quarter field goals with 90 seconds remaining, Lincoln had
cut the lead to seven points at 42-35.
Rock Island found its form at the charity stripe, however, as the
Rocks hit all eight of their free throw attempts in the final two
minutes, while Lincoln’s only other score was a three pointer from
Preston Short. Rock Island defeated the Railers 50-40.
Head Coach Neil Alexander
“They were very physical,” Alexander said. “Those are the type of
teams that we’ve got to be able to play against. If you go back and
look at the five losses we’ve got, probably all five of them are to
very physical teams.
“You’ve got to be able to play that way. You’ve got to be able to
handle the pressure.”
Komnick and Aue led Lincoln with 12 points each. Rock Island had
three players finish in double figures, with Abbey leading the way
with 17 points.
The loss drops Lincoln’s overall record to 18-5. The loss also keeps
Neil Alexander’s career win total as a head coach at 997.
Rock Island improved to 18-3 with the victory.
The Railers now have a weeklong break from game action, returning to
the court against a former Apollo Conference foe on Saturday in a
3:30 PM game at Taylorville.
[Loyd Kirby]
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