When the Dominican Republic’s top professional basketball league, the six-team LNB, begins its Super League season on June 18, Northern Essex Community College standout Luis Reynoso will be there.
Reynoso, the most-decorated hoops player in the Northern Essex Community College Knights’ history, was selected 16th overall in the Dominican national league’s draft this month by the Santiago Metros. Of the 56 players drafted overall, he was chosen in the second of seven rounds.
Reynoso, of Lawrence, helped lead the Knights to their second consecutive Region 21/East District Championship this year, becoming the first player in the history of the Knights basketball program to earn two All-American awards. He is just the fourth athlete in Northern Essex athletic program history to earn that recognition twice.
He became the first Knight to score 1,000 career points in more than two decades. The last to do it was Joe Marshall in 2001. In his two-year career on the Haverhill campus, he scored 1,244 points. Reynoso’s numbers prove his consistency: he scored 614 this past season, and 630 in his first year.
Averaging 26.6 minutes played per game, Reynoso led the team in scoring (19.8 points per game), rebounds (13.2 per game), blocks (1.6 per game) and assists (4.5 per game).
Lest an observer think he excelled only among his teammates, at the regional level Reynoso led in rebounding and tied for first in free throws made (126). He ranked fourth in points per game. On the national level, Reynoso finished third with 278 defensive rebounds and fourth in total rebounds with 408. He finished fifth in rebounds per game at 13.2 and seventh in total points (614).
When the LNB’s Super League (comparable to the NBA’s summer league) concludes, the Metros’ regular season will be played in September and October.