Flyers top Reds in quarter-finals
At last year’s Standard High School Basketball Tournament, Eden’s Luke Reinaerts made a name for himself with his offensive play.
In the consolation final, the then Grade 11 student scored 31 points to lead his team to a 67-47 victory over the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons.
One year later, the 17-year was doing in at the other end of the floor as the Flyers advanced to the championships semifinals with a 50-42 victory over the Denis Morris Reds Tuesday night.
“Luke is a machine out there,” Eden coach Jonathon Thorpe said. “He’s always working hard and he shut down their best player (Noah Honsberger).”
Reinaerts has all the tools to be a strong defender.
“He’s super athletic, he had a lot of heart and works hard and that’s what defence is all about,” Thorpe said.
Reinaerts also had help in holding Honsberger to only 11 points.
“We were playing man to man but he got some help and it’s a team thing,” Thorpe said.
Reinaerts also scored 15 points in the game and was named Eden’s player of the game.
“I thought I played pretty good defence today,” the 6-foot-1 guard/forward said. “I didn’t play very good defence yesterday and so I wanted to play better today.
“I decided to work a lot harder today.”
To prepare for Tuesday’s game, he got up early and went to the gym to work on his game. A natural shooter, Reinaerts also takes a lot of pride in his defensive game.
But when push comes to shove, he admits what he loves best.
“I think personally I like to score more because it’s more fun.”
Denis Morris had fun chasing the lead all night and entered the fourth quarter down 36-32. The Reds cut the lead to 44-42 with less than two minutes to play before the Flyers closed the game out by going 6-8 from the free throw line in the final minute of the game.
“Eden played well, they have a great team and Trent Thorpe played well,” DM head coach Randy Conlon said. “We threw everything we had at them and got into foul trouble, but that’s no excuse.
“They beat us fair and square.”
Conlon would have loved to see his top two senior players, Michael Conlon and Noah Honsberger, advance to the Standard semifinals in their final year.
“I feel for guys like Michael and Noah who have given us three years of senior ball,” he said. “We have the whole season ahead us but this is a big tournament for these kids.
“They mark in on the calendar every year and they played their hearts out. It was a big game for them and I know they are pretty upset.”
Thorpe agreed the Reds gave his squad quite the battle.
“That was a lot of fun,” he said. “There were some moments where we bent but didn’t break and we did a god job.”
He liked how his team finished out the game.
“At the end we were composed and we played well with the lead.”
Reinaerts is excited to be playing in the Standard semifinals against the top-seeded St. Francis Phoenix.
“We know it’s going to be hard but we are going in with a good mindset,” he said. “They are quite a good team and we are going to have to play our best. We are going to have to make our shots and play some good, all-around defence.”
STATS PACK
Flyers 50 Reds 42
Kully’s/No Limit Performance Player of the Game: Eden’s Luke Reinaerts with 15 points and a strong defensive game and Denis Morris’ Noah Honsberger with 11 points.
For the Eden Flyers: Trent Thorpe 22; Reinaerts 15; Kyle Mulder 6; Carter McMaster 5; Dylan Bryan 2.
For the Denis Morris Reds: Michael Conlon 13; Honsberger 11; Dylan Maltby 9; Thomas Davidson 7. Two points not accounted for.