St. Joe’s Erik Reynolds II makes history, Hawks win fifth straight

St. Joe’s senior guard Erik Reynolds II was looking to make history on Wednesday night as the Hawks hosted Rhode Island in an A-10 battle.

Reynolds needed three points to surpass Jameer Nelson, who was in the building along with 76ers center Joel Embiid, and become the university’s all-time leading scorer. However, he got off to a slow start. 

Reynolds started the game 0/6 from the field, including 0/3 from deep. Finally, with just over three minutes to go in the first half, Anthony Finkley missed a free throw, and Reynolds got the offensive rebound and hit a three to surpass Nelson, and “Hawk Hill’ erupted. 

Ultimately, St Joe’s(20-10, 11-6) would defeat Rhode Island(17-12, 6-11) 91-74.

“It’s ​insane,” Reynolds said about surpassing Nelson. “That’s ​to ​sum ​it ​up; that’s ​the ​one ​word ​I ​can ​give ​you. ​But, ​it ​means ​the ​world ​to ​me; like ​I ​said, ​this ​place ​has ​been ​nothing ​but ​good ​to ​me.”

Reynolds, who scored a game-high 22 points on Wednesday, didn’t know he had broken the record until he heard the crowd noise.

“​I ​knew ​it ​happened ​because ​of ​the ​way ​the ​crowd ​sounded ​like ​it ​was ​a ​little ​different ​from ​the ​first ​bucket,” he said. “​So ​I ​was ​like, ​’okay, ​that ​must ​have ​been ​it ​right ​there.’ Just ​a ​huge ​smile ​on ​my ​face. ​A ​lot ​of ​emotions stirred ​​up ​, but ​at ​the ​same ​time, ​we ​had ​a ​game ​to ​win.

Win is what the Hawks did, and they took over the game in the second half.

St. Joe’s, who led 38-36 at the break, started the second half on an 18-5 run to go up 56-41 after a big dunk by Rasheer Fleming, who finished the night with 19 points, seven rebounds, and four steals. The Hawks led by as many as 19 points in that second half.

The Hawks have now won five straight, and they finish the regular season with a clash with rival LaSalle on the road on Saturday in Fran Dunphy’s final regular season game as a head coach, which should be fun.

Notes:

-Finkley had a career-high 18 points.

-St Joe’s has won 20-plus games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2003-2005.

-Sebastian Thomas led Rhode Island, who five players in double figures, with 15 points.