At the beginning of the men’s basketball season, there were murmurs about the possibility of senior Erik Reynolds II becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer. The guard from Temple Hills, Maryland, sat at 1,616 career points, just 428 shy of the 2,094-point record set by Jameer Nelson ’18, who played for St. Joe’s from 2000-2004 before getting drafted into the NBA. Nelson returned to complete his degree in 2018.
Reynolds put up 606 points in the 2023-24 season, so 428 in the 2024-25 season seemed entirely possible. He entered the season 15th in program scoring, and put up 29 points in the first game of the season against Navy. He was officially less than 400 points away from the record.
But the next game out against Central Connecticut State, he only had five points. Against Villanova, he had just nine. And so, a season of hot and cold stretches began for Reynolds, who was usually the most reliable shooter. Slowly, he climbed up in the program ranks, but the record no longer seemed to be a sure thing.
But now, Reynolds has put up double-figures in every game since the Hawks played Loyola Chicago Jan. 11. Of those 11 games, five were 20-plus point games.
With his first basket against La Salle Feb. 12, Reynolds moved into second in program scoring, surpassing Langston Galloway’s ’14 1,991 points. With his 10th point of the game, Reynolds became just the second Hawk in program history to reach 2,000 career points. He finished the game against the Explorers 83 points shy of Nelson’s record.
In the two games that followed, he put up 11 points against George Mason and 19 against George Washington.
By his 125th career game, Reynolds was within 27 points of the record, scoring 25 against Richmond Feb. 22. Nelson set the record in 125 games, while Reynolds is on track to break it in 127.
Along with Nelson’s record, after the game against Richmond, Reynolds is just nine three-pointers shy of Galloway’s all-time three-point record (343), set in 133 games. Reynold entered into the season fifth in three-point scoring.
It’s only a matter of days until Reynolds further cements his name as one of the St. Joe’s greats.
