50 After 50: All-Stater for No. 24 Saukees nearly didn’t play so he could raise his infant daughter

The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock counties since 1972.

No. 24 — 1995-96 Pittsfield

PITTSFIELD, Ill. — The success of the Pittsfield boys basketball team had Pike County excited during the 1995-96 season. After all, the Saukees were ranked No. 1 in the Class A state poll for most of the season and finished No. 2 before postseason play started.

A decision before the season even started helped make the season a reality. Jamie Reel enjoyed an All-State caliber season, averaging 15.8 points per game, but he almost didn’t play.

He had a child at home. Brianna Reel was born Oct. 10, 1995, just days before the start of practice.

“It’s is scary. That’s what it is. It’s scary,” Reel said from his home in Milton. Fla., about 10 minutes from Pensacola. “I remember walking into Coach (Dave) Bennett’s office and telling him, ‘Coach, I’m gonna have a baby.’ After your coach looks at you and says, ’Basketball is just a game. You’ve got to do the right thing for you and your family,’ I was fully prepared to not play.

“I can’t say enough about Coach Bennett and his coaching. It wasn’t always about basketball. He was teaching us life lessons through basketball. He was preparing us for the world. Our families stepped up. We had a lot of support, a lot of help, but yeah, it was different. I mean, having a family and school and basketball practice and making everything work, it was a lot.

“But I’d do it all over again.”

No one would want to change much of Pittsfield’s dominance on the court.

Plenty was expected of a team that lost just two games the year before and returned several players. After defeating Piasa Southwestern in their opener, the Saukees whipped Liberty by 32, Unity by 29 and QND by 46 in the QND Tip-Off Tournament. Pittsfield then suffered its only regular season loss, falling at home 63-59 to Chicago Carver, ranked No. 4 in Class AA.

“I always enjoyed that game, because I knew that the team we were getting ready to play was, when you talk about athletic ability, man, they’re just on a different level,” Reel said. “Those guys coming in were the real deal. We knew that (game) was going to be a test for us.”

Pittsfield passed all of its other regular season tests and entered the postseason with a 24-1 record. The dominance didn’t stop, however. The Saukees walloped Griggsville 81-39 and Winchester 71-43 to win the regional, then crushed Divernon 78-38 to win their opener in the Petersburg Sectional. 

“We were on a roll,” Reel said. “The state tournament was in our sights. We knew what we wanted to accomplish, and we knew what it took.

“We had a lot of heart outside of our abilities. Jason Pressey and Jason Rinehart were two great guards, and we had two other guys who could score inside with Mike Walston and Michael Smith. We weren’t selfish. We played to each other’s strengths. There wasn’t one of us who went out there and thought, ‘I’m going to win this game.’ We just did whatever we had to do, and if that means Jamie Reel scores six points, then so be it.”

Smith came off the bench to score 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to help the Saukees hold off 14th-ranked Pleasant Plains 61-54 to win the sectional title. 

Pittsfield carried a 24-game winning streak into the super-sectional against Macomb at Macomb’s Western Hall.

And then disaster struck.

Macomb led 12-11 after one quarter, then made 20 of its next 23 shots and eventually led by as many as 20 points in a 72-59 victory to earn a state tournament bid. The Saukees’ remarkable run ended with a 28-2 record.

“We didn’t look past Macomb. We prepared for them. I’m not going to say we played bad, but I’m not going to say we played great. They just played a phenomenal game,” Reel said. “I’m not gonna make any excuses. (Macomb’s) Chad (Lunt) left got me on a ball fake, and I ended up sitting on his shoulders, about eight feet in the air, and then fell flat on my back. I mean, it hurt me. It hurt me bad. But like I said, no excuses.”

It was a year when Reel had no excuses off the court as well. He had a child to raise, and today, Reel calls Brianna’s mother “phenomenal.” 

“She did a great job of picking up the slack anywhere that I fell off,” he said. “She was very supportive. I’m super thankful for her, because it wasn’t just my decision whether or not I was going to play basketball or stop.”

Now divorced from his first wife, Reel is doing construction and operates a trailer rental trash business, while his second wife manages a realty brokerage.

“There are a lot of things I might have done a little bit different,” he said, “but there’s no regrets at all. It was amazing. It’s been amazing. My son and my daughter both got married, and I got to perform the ceremonies for both of their weddings. God’s just been very good. I just look back at everything, and as much as I didn’t understand, as much as I didn’t know, Scripture tells us He takes all things and uses them for the good of his people.”