When Kevin Reynolds discusses turning around the fortunes of a college basketball program, people take notice — especially when it’s his players.
After all, Reynolds took a Slippery Rock University men’s basketball program that had single-digit win totals in 13 of its 14 seasons prior to his arrival as head coach, and in 10 years, racked up 188 victories, six 20-win campaigns and three NCAA Division II tournament appearances.
“We have the lofty expectations, and we did at SRU, too,” said Reynolds, who led the Rock to all but three of its 20-win seasons in the more than 100 years of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference program’s history. “I think that helps when you have expectations that you talk about that are attainable.
“Talking about championships and playing in big games is the way to turn things around.”
Since taking over Point Park University’s men’s basketball team in April, Reynolds said he and his coaching staff have been talking that kind of talk and his Pioneers are on the brink of playing in the types of games this winter that just a year ago might have seemed unattainable.
Point Park, a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, is currently 18-5 overall and 9-3 in the National River States Conference, which is good for the fourth-best start in program history.
A 20-win season would be Point Park’s first since 2006-07, and just the seventh in program history, while leaving the Pioneers poised to make a run at a conference championship and at least an at-large bid in the NAIA men’s basketball tournament.
“I know it’s year one and we’re coming to a program that hasn’t had a lot of success in a long time,” Reynolds said. “We’d be disappointed if we don’t get into the tournament and do well.”
The 85th annual NAIA tournament will be held March 13-18 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. Teams can qualify for the tournament by winning their conference regular-season championship, their conference tournament title or by earning an at-large bid, similar to the NCAA Division I tournament.
Point Park, which is two games behind Rio Grande and one behind Indiana University Kokomo in the conference standings, is alive for all three avenues to the national championship tournament. The Pioneers defeated IU Kokomo, 89-77, Saturday night.
“We know we’re a small college team,” Reynolds said. “We know we don’t have the cachet of the bigger schools, but we do want the area to know that we have a good team and we have good players and good guys. I think we represent the school very well.
“We want to be a national program,” he added. “That’s been our goal since I got here. We want to be a national program and team that can compete in the national tournament every year.”
Point Park’s success so far this season has been predicated upon its aggressive man-to-man defense and its ability to crash the boards.
“Since coach got here he’s been preaching that you have to rebound and rebound with two hands every time,” said Sherron Schifino, a 2017 Penn Hills graduate who is a senior guard after transferring from Division I Youngstown State four years ago. “We’ve been doing this since day one when we got here from summer time to all the way up to now we still do drills on it. We just take pride in not letting your man score. You just have to help each other out playing defense.”
Point Park averages 48 rebounds per game and a rebound margin of plus-14 to lead the nation at the NAIA level in each category. The Pioneers are also the ninth-best team in the nation for field-goal defense and are in the top 15 for scoring defense and defending against 3-pointers.
Reynolds said his coaching staff emphasizing that the Pioneers “control the controllable” by rebounding and playing strong defense has allowed their players to excel.
“We have a lot of instinctive players who are able to switch because of their athleticism and their height, which helps us guard the 3 at least,” Reynolds said. “The NAIA is very similar to the PSAC from a talent standpoint, so we have a lot of all-conference caliber players that play at a high level. I think that really helps our defense, having good players.”
It also naturally helps Point Park on offense.
The Pioneers have four starters averaging in double figures, led by 6-foot-5 sophomore forward Jo Valrie, who is scoring 19.6 points per game and adding 10.7 rebounds.
“He’s a sophomore, but obviously he is one of the better players on the team,” said Reynolds of Valrie. “He’s a quiet guy. He’s more of a leadership by actions type of player. A super hard worker, a really hard worker.”
Junior guard Jalen Stamps is also averaging 16.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, while senior guard Cyrie Coates is contributing 15 points and 5.3 rebounds and Schifino is chipping in 12.8 points and 4.4 rebounds.
Starting 7-foot-1, 260-pound center Jags Jhawar, a native of Punjab, India, is averaging four points and six rebounds per game and anchors Point Park on both ends of the court.
“We just thrive in transition,” Schifino said. “Coach just tells us to go get the rebound and we go. It could be anybody any given night, and that’s what really helps our offense, the rebounding and feeding off to our offense.”
Aggression is the name of the game for Point Park, which creates an exciting brand of basketball, Reynolds said.
“Our team really gets along well with each other,” he said. “We have 12 guys, and all 12 guys really get along with each other. The guys on the team do a good job of sharing the ball. The guys find the hot hand, and I think all good teams do that. They find who is hot in that particular game and they get it to them.”
Schifino’s leadership has also been critical to Point Park’s renaissance this season.
“I’ve known Sherron since high school,” Reynolds said. “He’s mentally just a good player. He’s a good guy, one of the captains on the team. He does a good job of leading the team, not just by words, but he’s a super hard worker. He’s a good guy. I know we say all the time about having good players, but he’s a good student and good guy. He’s a good building block to rely on.
“Those are the type of guys you win with, and he’s obviously one of the better players Point Park has had, and they’ve had a lot of good players in the history of the program.”
And now Schifino, who joins Mars graduate Mihali Sfanos as the only former WPIAL players on the Point Park roster, is looking to lead the Pioneers to heights to which the program has never ascended.
“I feel like we can make a really nice run,” Schifino said. “Anything is possible. Coach always tells us we have a national title team. I feel like we can go all the way if we just put our mind to it and do what coaches tell us to do. We can definitely go all the way.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.