By PAUL GOTHAM
Ball-Getter. Nose for the ball. Glass cleaner.
These and more best describe Canisius Golden Griffin Jamal Reynolds.
Opponents might not use as polite of terms.
One year after grabbing 6.6 rebounds per game (the best average by a first-year Canisius player since Michael Meeks in 1992-93), Reynolds currently leads Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with 8.9 boards per contest.
“Jamal is a warrior as far as getting to the glass,” Canisius head coach Jim Baron said. “He goes to the glass. He gets second shots. He plays so hard.”
Reynolds ranks second in the nation grabbing 5.14 offensive rebounds per game – a tick above Baylor’s Rico Gathers (5.00) and Stony Brook’s Jameel Warney (5.00) as well as Duke’s Amile Jefferson (4.78). Austin Peay’s Chris Horton leads the nation with 5.6.
Last Saturday’s contest against Quinnipiac could have been a comeuppance for the senior. Quinnipiac entered play ranked top 25 in the nation for rebound margin. Not unfamiliar territory for Tom Moore and his Bobcats who have outrebounded their opponents in 222 of 256 games. Moore’s Bobcats finished number one in the nation a year ago in rebound margin (12.4) and total rebounds (45.4). They had been grabbing 7.8 more boards per game than their opponents this year.
Reynolds pulled down 10 boards on the night – six on the offensive end.
“He’s got good hands, and he’s springy,” Moore said of Reynolds. “He’s relentless…When you get the praise that he gets in our locker room, it’s very rare. Our guys are like they can’t box him out.”
He finished the night with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds in the second half including four offensive boards in the final 4:29 as the Griffs trimmed a ten-point deficit to two.
“You sit in the lane because he’s not going to shoot too much, but then the shot goes up it’s a really hard box out,” Moore explained. “You got to go out and try to meet him out there.”
“I felt like we weren’t getting second shots,” Reynolds said. “Coach Baron said the difference at halftime was we weren’t getting a lot of second shots. I made an emphasis for myself to attack the glass. I had to step up for my team.”
Moore compared the 6-4, 175 pound Reynolds to former Bobcat Zaid Hearst.
“‘Z’ did it more with muscle,” Moore said of his former player who at 6-4 weighed 215 pounds. “Reynolds does it with his activity and his athleticism.”
Reynolds is the Griffs active leader with six career double-doubles including two this season. His first this year came in a 98-89 win over Lehigh on November 16th.
“Jamal just has an unrelenting will when it comes to rebounding the basketball,” Lehigh head coach Dr. Brett Reed said. “He combines a physical presence, quickness and athleticism, but the underlying most important characteristic is want to rebound and he has that.”
The Pickering, Ontario native played two years at Mott Community College before transferring to Canisius. He scored 11 points per game in 2013-14 and led Mott CC with 7.2 rebounds.
“To me the numbers don’t matter,” Reynolds stated. “Stats whatever that’s not what I play for. I just try to make plays for our team.
“I really focus on attacking the glass. We have a lot shooters. When a shooter shoots, I make sure that I find the open spot to get the rebound. I make sure I’m in the right position. The ball might not always go to me, but if I’m in a good position for rebounding, the odds are that it might come my way, and I might make a play.”
The Griffs travel Happy Valley Thursday to meet the Penn State Nittany Lions as part of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic. Canisius comes into the game 3-4, but the Griffs last three losses have been by a combined total of eight points. Canisius ranks first in the MAAC and 11th in the country scoring 87.3 points per game.
Penn State is 5-3 and coming off a loss to George Washington on Tuesday.
Tonight’s game is the third meeting between the two teams with Penn State holding a 2-0 series advantage.
Malcolm McMillan leads Canisius scoring 21.3 points per game. The graduate transfer’s scoring output ranks him 20th in the nation.
Phil Valenti is averaging 18.3 points and nine rebounds over the last three Canisius contests. The junior forward posted a career-high 25 points in the loss to Quinnipiac.
Shep Garner leads Penn State accounting for 16.4 points per game.
A 7 p.m. tip off time is scheduled.
Leave a Reply