Railer boys basketball team
collects 5th straight win with 40-30 defeat of Taylorville
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 [February 03, 2025]
LINCOLN – As the basketball season winds down, teams can play
themselves into or out of a better seeding for the postseason based
on their wins and their performances against particular opponents.
While the Railer game against Taylorville was a bit slower-paced and
perhaps even sluggish at times, the important outcome for Lincoln
was in getting the win, defeating the Tornadoes 40-30.
Both teams came into the game moving in different directions:
Taylorville had lost 3 of its last 4 contests while Lincoln had won
four straight games. However, Lincoln was without its Top 2 point
guards, as Brody Tungate continued to recover from an injury and
Brady Miller was out due Saturday night to illness.
As a result, Lincoln head coach Neil Alexander was forced to juggle
his lineup, a task with which he has become quite familiar this
season due to the Railers’ numerous injuries. In the end, Alexander
called on senior Drew Hayes to run the Railer offense against
Taylorville. While perhaps an unconventional choice, Hayes often
brings the ball up court when the Railers face pressure defenses
from opponents. Not only does he present matchup problems for
opponents, Hayes’ 6-foot-5 frame allows him to see over the defense
more so than a traditionally-sized point guard.
The downside of the move is that rotating Hayes out to point guard
meant that Alexander would have to shuffle his lineup elsewhere to
compensate for the loss of Hayes down low.
Head Coach Neil Alexander
“That was a makeshift lineup,” Alexander said after the game. “There
was not a true point guard out there. We had to just make due, and
we were able to execute enough to get things done. A lot of those
kids were out of position today.”
After a one-game hiatus from the starting lineup Friday night
against Mattoon due to illness, senior Gabe Smith returned to start
Saturday night. In addition, Karson Komnick and Frank Sanders
continued mending from their injuries and started for the Railers.
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Rounding out the first five for Lincoln was senior
Blake Horn, originally projected this season as a reserve but who
has shined on numerous occasions in filling several roles for the
Railers as they continued to fight back from injuries and other
ailments.
The results with the makeshift lineup were mixed. Taylorville scored
the first two points of the game to take an early lead, but the
Railers tallied the next nine points and led wire to wire after
retaking the lead. Sanders showed flashes of dominating the boards.
Lincoln’s defense tied the season mark it set the previous night
against Mattoon by holding Taylorville to only 30 points. But the
Railers only hit two three-pointers in tallying 40 points of their
own on the night.
“It’s hard to call an offense when you take your quarterback out,”
Alexander said. “We’ll be fine. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but
we’re running out of time. Three more weeks and the season’s over.”
The Railers led 8-2 after one quarter and 17-6 at intermission.
Taylorville hovered around a 10-point deficit most of the second
half, cutting the lead to single digits in the fourth quarter before
losing 40-30.
Karson Komnick
Komnick led Lincoln with 12 points while Horn added
11. Sanders tallied 8, Hayes scored 6 and Smith contributed 2. With
its fifth straight win, Lincoln improves to 15-8 on the season
overall.
Owen Younker led Taylorville with nine points. The Tornadoes fall to
12-12 overall with the loss.
The Railers face one of their biggest tests of the season as they
are scheduled to play five games over a six day span. That stretch
of games begins February 6 when Lincoln hosts Glenwood in a makeup
game that was rescheduled from January 10 due to inclement weather.
The remaining contests in the upcoming five-games include:
• Fri 2/7 - 7 PM - Away @ Eisenhower
• Sat 2/8 - 2:30 PM - Away @ Lanphier
• Mon 2/10 - 7 PM - Home vs. Bloomington
• Tue 2/11 - 7 PM - Away @ Sacred Heart-Griffin
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