How does Spencer Reaves top his monster junior season?
“Do it again. You go back to work like it never happened,” the Cedar Ridge senior guard said. “Our girls coach (Casey Scribner) said, ‘Who really remembers who won a [a state title] last year?’ You have to play in the present.”
Timberwolves fans won’t forget how the 6-foot-3 guard led a young team to the school’s first title by pouring in 24 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists in the 58-56 win against northeast Arkansas rival East Poinsett County.
Reaves earned Class 2A State Championship MVP honors with 35 points and shot 4 of 6 from the 3-point line.
“He put the whole town of Newark on his back and willed us to victory,” Cedar Ridge coach Isaac Middlebrooks said. “Cole Crabtree kept us in it in the first half, and Spencer Reaves won it for us in the second half.”
Not many expected the Timberwolves to contend for a state title. That year was supposed to be in 2011-12, when they racked up 30 wins but were upset in the regional tournament.
With only one senior who contributed, Reaves led the team and gave underclassmen like sophomore Cade Crabtree, who hit the game-winning free throws in the title game, and Reaves’ younger brother, Austin, confidence to play well in big games.
“He is our most vocal player, and if he doesn’t feel like someone is playing to their potential, he will tell them,” Middlebrooks said of Reaves. “He will also help a guy through a drill if he sees that he isn’t getting it.”
A year after the magical run, opponents are gunning for Reaves and the Timberwolves.
“I started thinking about this year after we got our rings at the end of the school year,” Reaves said. “Team camps started, and we went back to work. Obviously, our goal is to win a state championship. Everybody expected it to be a rebuilding year last season. This year it is going to be tougher because we have a bull’s-eye on our chests.”
The flip side of the title run is that younger players like Crabtree and Austin Reaves are more seasoned after beating East Poinsett County in front of more than 6,000 fans.
“We told those guys they couldn’t play like freshmen; they had to be sophomores,” Spencer Reaves said. “At the beginning of the year, they played like freshmen. At the end, they weren’t playing scared and made some plays.
“Last year gives us a lot of confidence. Winning a state championship makes it easier if we make it there again. We won’t be as nervous.”
While Reaves is driven to win another title, he is also trying to prove he’s a Division I basketball prospect. Tennessee-Martin is the only D-I school to offer him a scholarship. The University of Central Arkansas and Southeast Missouri State have shown interest. Defending Division II National Champion Drury (Mo.) College is also very interested.
“That has always been my dream, [to play college basketball],” Reaves said. “When I was 3 years old, I was playing on a Little Tikes goal. I’ve made it a goal to get a college basketball scholarship. I would rather win than score 40 points, but sometimes I need to score 40 points to win.”
Reaves gets little exposure playing in the state’s smallest classification at a rural school. Middlebrooks hopes to give his college stock a boost by entering the Timberwolves in the Hurricane Classic in Jonesboro, where Cedar Ridge will play bigger schools with college coaches in attendance.
“If he comes out the first of the year and has some big games, I think more coaches will be calling,” Middlebrooks said. “if he doesn’t, they may not. What scares college coaches off is out of our starting five, he looks to be the least athletic, but he is faster than he looks. He has the drive to succeed. He relishes the underdog role.”
Reaves comes by his love for basketball naturally. His dad, Brian Reaves, was a point guard at Arkansas State. The Kokomo, Ind., native fell for a star on the ASU women’s team, Nicole Wilkett. She led the nation in scoring at Northark Community College and then poured in 32 points in a game for ASU. The Northark Hall of Famer averaged more than 20 points per game as a junior and and helped the Indians to third place in the WNIT.
“They always coached me, but they didn’t push me,” Spencer Reaves said. “They weren’t crazy and kept me out there for 10 hours a day.”
Reaves, who is an all-state golfer, did work hard, and it’s paid off. He taught himself to shoot left-handed, even though he does everything else right-handed, including swing a golf club and baseball bat. He can handle the ball with both hands, and unlike most lefties, he prefers driving to the hoop on the right side.
He knows he’ll need all the tricks he can muster to bring home another title and land a D-I scholarship.