Boys basketball: Sean Reynolds, DeKalb rain down 3s in win over Lyons

BURLINGTON – The 3s were falling all day for DeKalb, including almost half of them in the Barbs’ 61-50 win over Lyons Township in the Burlington Central Martin Luther King Day Tournament on Monday.

And when the shots are falling like that – DeKalb was 12 for 25 from long range – shooting guard Sean Reynolds said the Barbs are tough to beat.

“When everybody’s hitting shots, I feel like we’re one of the best teams in the state,” said Reynolds, who scored 22 points and was 5 for 8 from beyond the arc. “We’re very dangerous when we can all shoot the ball and we all trust each other to make the extra pass. We can be one of the best in the state, for sure.”

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DeKalb’s Davon Grant goes by Lyons Township's Brady Chambers for a layup Monday, Jan. 15, 2023, during their game in the Burlington Central Martin Luther King Jr. boys basketball tournament. (Mark Busch)

The Lions (5-10) started the game red-hot with Michael Reilly and Max Hoffman draining 3s as they raced out to an 8-2 lead in less than two minutes.

But the Barbs (14-5) clamped down on defense, and in the second quarter the 3s started to fall. They were down 12-10 to the Lions after one quarter, with only Reynolds making a 3.

But Jackson Kees and Brayson Barnhardt joined Reynolds in making two 3s in the second quarter, and the Barbs put up 23 points in the quarter to lead by as much as nine.

“We weren’t good enough in the first quarter, but credit to them,” DeKalb coach Mike Reynolds said. “They ran a lot of good stuff, a lot of different actions. It’s a quick turnaround, so you’re not really walking it through. But I thought our guys handled the adjustments well and played better. I thought for three quarters we played really, really well.”

DeKalb won its opener at the tournament 69-40 against Marian Central behind 12 points, five rebounds and six assists from Sean Reynolds and 15 points, all on 3s, from Unique Shaw. Originally scheduled for four games over three days, Friday’s and Saturday’s games were wiped out because of weather.

Against Lyons, Kees finished with nine points, all on long-range shots. Barnhardt had eight and Marquise Bolden hit a pair of third-quarter 3s to finish with six.

“That’s really who we are,” Mike Reynolds said of his team’s long-range abilities. “We didn’t shoot it as well as we are capable of at the beginning of the year. But I think that’s turned around since Christmas. I think you’ve seen it, instead of scoring in the low 40s. we’re scoring in the 60s or 70s. And that’s where we want to be.”

After 12 points and 13 rebounds against Marian Central, Justin O’Neal had seven points and five rebounds starting in place of the injured Eric Rosenow.

“There aren’t that many teams that are good playing with just one or two guys,” Mike Reynolds said. “You have to have everybody, and contributions in a lot of different ways. In the first game, Unique came in, hit five 3s. And now in the second game, Justin got his hands going and was really able to dominate the game around the rim.”

O’Neal, a 6-2 junior post, provided a complement to 6-4 sophomore Davon Grant down low. Mike Reynolds said the duo is improving as they get more playing time together.

The coach added that Rosenow is day-to-day and may have been able to play Monday, but given the return to conference play coming up for the Barbs, they decided to take it slow with their starting forward.

“[O’Neal] missed a little time at the beginning of the year, so he’s still getting rhythm,” Mike Reynolds said. “The one thing about him and Davon is they both like the same areas, so it’s sometimes a challenge to play them together. We were forced to do it today, but you saw good things.”

Grant had a, by his standard, quiet game with nine points, six rebounds, two steals and a block. But he had a huge play for the Barbs in the fourth. DeKalb had run almost 90 seconds off the clock after the Lions got to within 55-46 on a 3-pointer by Quinn Mulcrone with 5:34 left. The DeKalb lead had been as much as 14.

The Barbs slowed it down, passing the ball around the court until Grant got loose down low and slammed home his second dunk of the game, getting the lead back to double figures in the final 3:45.

Brady Chambers led the Lions with six rebounds to go with 11 points. Hoffman had 12 points while Jimmy Pajauskas and Ian Polonowski each had eight. Lyons shot 7 for 23 on 3-pointers after coming out of the gate red-hot.

“We’re trying to build a culture by fighting on defense,” Sean Reynolds said. “So we fought on defense, got the first rebound, and I feel like that’s how we kind of broke them.”