This hasn’t been the role for Luke Reinert at Kaneland, but the 5-foot-10 senior guard wore it well.
Reinert has been a member of the varsity since his sophomore season for the Knights, largely shouldering a supporting role as a catch-and-shoot outside threat. But that has been changing.
“That first year, I came into games in the fourth quarter when we were up by 30,” Reinert said. “In practice, I worked hard, and last year, I got in a little more, usually off the bench as a seventh or eighth man for a few minutes.
“This year, I’ve been starting and I’ve kept working.”
It showed against Sycamore on Wednesday night when Reinert erupted for 11 of his 15 points in the decisive third quarter of the Knights’ 65-46 milestone win for coach Ernie Colombe.
It came in an early season Interstate Eight Conference showdown between two 5-1 teams.
Reinert made two 3-pointers, drove twice for layups and was fouled on a third, making 1 of 2 free throws as the Knights (6-1, 2-0) closed out the quarter with a big 16-0 run.
It came after senior guard Unique Shaw tied the game at 37-all for Sycamore (5-2, 1-1) with a pair of 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the third quarter.
“You’re just kind of zoned out,” Reinert said, trying to explain his run. “That’s something I’ve never done before. I finished it out running the floor well and pushing for fast breaks.”
The usual leaders also stepped up for Kaneland.
Junior point guard Marshawn Cocroft, the Aurora Christian transfer, had a team-high 17 points and 6-foot-7 senior forward Freddy Hassan dominated the smaller Spartans with a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds — 11 more rebounds than anyone else on the floor.
Isaiah Feuerbach finished with 12 points and four rebounds to lead Sycamore.
“Usually, Marshawn gets downhill, kicks it out,” Reinert said. “I’m a shooter. Once they close out, I can take it and drive by them and finish at the rim. I work on trying to be versatile because you can’t be one-dimensional.
“That’s what I work on a lot in practice — drives to the basket and pull-up, midrange shots. I knew I just had to keep my head down and keep working.”
It has served him well this season. Colombe said Reinert is averaging double figures in scoring.
“He’s really, really matured on the court,” Colombe said. “Luke does a great job and works really hard. He’s scrappy, always around the ball and not afraid to dive on the floor and get a loose ball.
“He plays with a lot of energy, running around, and it becomes contagious.”
It was the 300th win of the veteran coach’s career at Kaneland, starting with a 13-year run as the girls basketball coach, where his teams went 199-166.
Colombe is now 101-42 in his sixth season leading the boys program, which includes a shortened pandemic season. It gives him a combined winning percentage of .591 with a 300-208 record.
Before coming to Kaneland, Colombe also coached girls basketball for several years at the lower levels at Riverside-Brookfield.
Hassan, meanwhile, was steady throughout his 3 1/2 quarters of play and added two blocked shots and two assists.
“Obviously, team comes first and the goal is to win,” Hassan said. “Individually, I know rebounding helps us a lot, especially offensive rebounds. People expect me to get them now, but I can still catch my guy sleeping and get a few more rebounds and putbacks.
“I love to get defensive rebounds because we love to rebound and run. That’s our main philosophy on offense — transition offense.”
Hassan and Reinert came up to the varsity together as sophomores.
“In practice, Luke is always one of the hardest workers,” Hassan said. “He’s made a big difference for our team this year, doing a lot on defense and offense. He’s our shooting guard, I would say.
“He hits threes when he needs to, but he’s really good at getting in transition. He gets a lot of steals. He hides behind the guy, gets in passing lanes, taps it away and then gets easy layups.”
