Railers coast to 2-0 record with
61-45 win over Chicago Dunbar in Eaton Electrical Thanksgiving
Tournament
[November 27, 2025]
If the Railer boys basketball team performance in its game
Wednesday night against Chicago Dunbar is any indication, head coach
Neil Alexander has a roster of quick studies this season.
After watching seniors Brody Tungate and Karson Komnick score 23 and
20 points respectively in Lincoln’s comeback win over Champaign
Centennial on Tuesday night, Alexander made a cautionary statement
about the Railer offense.
Head Coach Neil Alexander
“We can’t rely on those two doing what they did tonight,” he said of
Komnick and Tungate. “If we do that, we’re going to end up seeing
some things we don’t want to see.”
There was no official confirmation about whether his squad heard
Alexander’s postgame comments prior to its Wednesday game, but if
the performance of the Railer offense was any indication, the
message was received loud and clear.
Karson Komnick
LCHS had four different players tally seven or more points as Karson
Komnick scored 29 points and Tate Aue added 12 in a 61-45 Railer
victory during which Lincoln was never seriously challenged. The
Railers also got eight points from Bryce Vlahovich and seven points
from Tungate.
“I felt we had more guys that scored or looked to score, so that
helps us out,” Alexander said after the win over Dunbar. “It just
opens up the middle. If those guys hit those outside shots where
people have got to go cover them and they can’t leave them, that
leaves the alleys open for Karson and Brody to get to the basket.
“If we don’t kick and hit those threes, everybody’s going to park in
the lane and take that away from us. And right now that’s been an
important part of what we’ve done the last two games.”
The victory moved Lincoln’s record to 2-0 in the 35th Annual Eaton
Electrical Thanksgiving Tournament. With all other teams in
Lincoln’s pool having lost at least one game, the Railers can secure
a spot in the championship contest of the tournament with a win over
Danville on Friday night.
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Most of the hometown fans at Lincoln’s game Tuesday
night against Centennial probably were a bit shell shocked when the
Chargers opened the game by scoring eight points before the Railers
broke into the scoring column. On Wednesday against Dunbar, Lincoln
didn’t exactly turn the tables on Chicago Dunbar, but the Railers
did jump out to an 8-2 lead in the first four minutes of the opening
quarter. Lincoln held a 19-7 advantage after the opening period, and
Lincoln’ stretched the lead to 30-13 at halftime. While LCHS
extended its lead to 48-27 after the quarters, the Mighty Men of
Dunbar outscored the hosts 18-13 in the final frame, but it was too
little too late as the Railers won going away, 61-45.
Despite the lopsided score, Alexander said his team learned some
things and benefited by facing Dunbar.
“This is a great team to play,” Alexander said of Dunbar. “They were
quick all over. They gave Brody [Tungate] a hard time, but he needs
to be able to play against that because people are going to come at
him like that.”
Perhaps the biggest story to come from the postgame comments of
Coach Alexander—that’s Coach Neil Alexander, a disciple of former
Railer coach Loren Wallace and known as a master of the vaunted
1-2-2 ball press and zone defense that is the calling card of Railer
basketball—was that the team has been working more on its offense
than its defense thus far this season.
“We haven’t spent a lot of time on defense,” Alexander said. “We
wanted to be a better offensive team and put more points on the
board, and hopefully it’s paying off.”
Lincoln sits atop the Green Pool standings for the tournament with
an unblemished 2-0 record. Danville and Champaign Centennial are
each 1-1 while Dunbar is 0-2.
Cahokia occupies the top slot in the Red Pool at 2-0 with all others
in the group (Belleville West, Mt. Zion and Springfield) each at
1-1.
Results thus far in the tournament:
• Cahokia 59, Mt. Zion 42
• Belleville West 52, Springfield 45
• Champaign Centennial 72, Belleville West 56
• Danville 55, Chicago Dunbar 49
• Lincoln 57, Champaign Centennial 51
• Cahokia 67, Belleville West 56
• Springfield 43, Mt. Zion 41
• Lincoln 61, Chicago Dunbar 45
There is a break in the tournament with no games on
Thursday due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Pool play continues Friday
with four games scheduled:
• 3 PM – Mt. Zion vs. Belleville West
• 4:30 PM – Cahokia vs. Springfield
• 6:15 PM – Champaign Centennial vs. Chicago Dunbar
• 7 :45 PM – Danville vs. Lincoln
The pool play results will be used to determine the pairings for
Saturday’s games, with the top team from each pool facing one
another, the No. 2 team from each pool squaring off, and so on.
While the specific games in which teams will play won’t be known
until after the results from Friday are available, the slated game
times for Saturday are 3 PM, 4:30 PM, 6:15 PM and 7:45 PM.
[Loyd Kirby]
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