Columbus East’s Will Rieckers drives to the basket around Whiteland’s Dylan Gross (4) and Kyson Jones (22) in the Orange Pit at Columbus East High School. Tommy Walker/For The Republic
The Republic file photo
The past two boys basketball seasons haven’t gone the way Will Rieckers would have liked, and he is hoping to help turn that around in this, his senior year at Columbus East.
After missing the season opener at Silver Creek, Rieckers has led the Olympians in scoring in three of their past five games. He is averaging 12.2 points, second on the team to Ben Sylva’s 13.0.
But more important to Rieckers is getting back on the winning track after going 1-18 last season and starting 1-5 this year.
“I want to win some more games, I want to be a leader and improve, compared to last year,” Rieckers said. “Last year was not the best year for us. I want to win a few here and turn things around so we have a better season than last year.”
East picked up a 44-22 victory Dec. 3 at Trinity Lutheran. Last week, the Olympians hung around with Southwestern (Hanover) and Bedford North Lawrence for parts of those games before the opponents pulled away.
“We just have to do some little things, and I think we can win some of those close games,” Rieckers said. “The past couple games against Southwestern and Bedford, if we would have hit some shots and controlled our turnovers and did some of the little things better, I feel like we could have hung in there and maybe pulled one of those games out. I feel like it’s a matter of doing the little things right and hitting shots and then also having the whole team healthy.”
The 5-foot-11 Rieckers plays mostly shooting guard, but also handles the ball with frequency. He did a lot of the ballhandling the second game of the season against Noblesville when Sylva was out.
“Willy is just one of those steady guys for us that’s going to give us quality minutes,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “We give him freedom to do a lot of different things. He’ll guard one of the other team’s best players, and then we ask him to score for us, as well. We ask him to handle the ball for us. We ask him to shoot it for us. He’s a very good defender. He can spot up and shoot pretty well, and he can see the floor very well. He does a lot, and he does it unselfishly.”
As the lone returning senior starter, Rieckers also has become a leader.
“He’s a steady guy, and he does a good job working with the younger guys,” Chitty said. “Will is not a very vocal guy. He works hard, and he leads by his actions. He works hard and does things how we try to do things.”
Rieckers best sport likely is baseball. He was on the varsity roster as a freshman when East made it to the Class 4A state title game in 2019. His sophomore baseball season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he started at second base for the Olympians as a junior this spring.
Although he has had some interest from colleges for baseball, Rieckers is leaning toward just going to Purdue or Indiana University to study finance or accounting.
But for now, the focus is basketball. East will renew its rivalry with Columbus North Friday night in the Orange Pit.
“The whole team is ready to go,” Rieckers said. “We just have to have good practices this week. Hopefully, we’ll get all of our guys back to go ready and healthy. A lot of our guys were sick this week, which kind of affected us (Friday at BNL), but I feel like if we have good practices this week, it will be a very good game. We just have to stay focused.”
Rivalry Week
Tuesday: North at East boys and girls swimming, 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday: East at North wrestling, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday: East at North girls basketball, 6 p.m. (JV) and 7:30 p.m. (varsity)
Friday: North at East boys basketball, 6 p.m. (JV) and 7:30 p.m. (varsity)
Admission: $6 each night
