Step by step.
Progress this season for Batavia’s Joe Reid seems to be mirroring that of his team. It sometimes comes in fits and bursts, but overall, things have been pretty steady for the 6-foot junior guard.
That’s just like the Bulldogs, who continue to hover around the .500 mark. The best is probably yet to come for Reid, a first-year varsity player, but he’s also had some very good moments.
“Joe has developed and is getting better by the day,” Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. “He used to be just a shooter. He’s now pulling up and taking shots, doing things defensively.
“He’s calmed his mind down to see things offensively, where he’s giving the ball up. He’s evolved really nice.”
Reid got off to a fast start Saturday night for the host Bulldogs, scoring eight of his team-high 16 points in the first quarter of a cliffhanger 53-47 loss to Burlington Central.
It wrapped up the 31st annual Jim and Sylvia Roberts Night of Hoops, a five-game showcase and an event that started a statewide trend now dotting the boys basketball landscape.
Jax Abalos, a 6-foot-8 senior guard/forward and Cornell recruit, said Reid has produced similar performances this season for Batavia (11-12).
“Joe has definitely been a spark at times,” Abalos said. “I think it was our first game he had like 22 points and just got it going with 18 in the first quarter. It just goes like that.
“He gets the bench excited and gets the team going. He’s been like a spark.”
Abalos, who fouled out with three minutes remaining, added 14 points for the Bulldogs. He fouled out trying to block a shot by senior guard LJ Kerr with the game tied at 41-41.
Kerr, meanwhile, scored nine of his team-high 12 points in the fourth quarter. That’s when Burlington Central (17-6) locked up the victory by making 10 of 14 free throws.
“Really, Jax is the main firepower for us,” Reid said. “But doing everything I can is probably my role here. Play good defense, put some pressure on the other team’s guards and hit some shots.”
Reid, who teams up in the backcourt with junior point guard Xavier Justice, is averaging 8.2 points, two rebounds and two assists for Batavia. He’s made 41 3-point shots.
“I’ll bring the ball up sometimes, too,” Reid said. “When I have a start like that first quarter, I just try to maintain it as best I can and come back in the second half and keep it going.”
A sprinter who runs the 100 and 200 meters for Batavia in track, Reid is following a path blazed by two older brothers, 23-year-old Jonathan and 21-year-old Nick.
Jonathan (St. Norbert) and Nick (Aurora University and Benedictine) both played basketball at Marmion and at the NCAA Division III level.
“They’re tremendous,” Joe Reid said of his brothers. “They help coach at Marmion now. Any time I can go in with them, they’ll put me through workouts and give me all they’ve got.”
Younger sister Gianna, a sophomore goalkeeper in soccer, also attends Batavia.
The Night of Hoops followed four games in two days at two Martin Luther King Day events and Friday’s 50-42 win at Lake Park to open second-round play in the DuKane Conference.
The Bulldogs are tied for fourth with three other teams in conference.
“We are getting better,” Nazos said. “That’s the first time in four years we’ve won at Lake Park. We had a little run winning four of five going back to last weekend, and Joe has been a big part of it.
“We’re not coming in with just Jax. The other starters are doing a lot of things for us. I do think the best is coming. I think we can make a run at sectional, no matter where we get seeded.”
