27-point quarter a culmination of Medway guard Caden Reisman's tireless effort
Caden Reisman caught Jacob White's eye drifting toward the corner.
The Medway boys basketball team trailed Dedham by four points in the Marauders' gym early in the third quarter on Dec. 15. White fired an inbounds pass to Reisman as he passed over the 3-point arc. Reisman caught and fired for an open 3.
"It felt good, it felt right," Reisman said.
Then he made another. And another. The senior hit five 3s and scored 27 points in the third quarter alone.
"I've had good games in the past, but nothing like this. I've never been this hot," Reisman said.
He finished with a career-high 30 and turned a one-point deficit to a 12-point lead. Medway ultimately won 66-48.
"Oh my god I’ve never seen anything like it," Medway coach Shane Jackson said. "It was the most impressive performance I have ever seen in a high school basketball game."
'We realized how much he meant to us'
The deluge of baskets began long before Reisman stepped on the floor in Dedham. He broke out as a full-time varsity player last year as a junior, earning Tri-Valley League all-star recognition. But Reisman missed the final five games of the season with an illness, including both Division 3 state tournament games, as the Mustangs fell in the Round of 32.
"He was our team leader. We just had to find a different way to work without him, and it was a difficult thing," Jackson said. "Without him, we realized how much he meant to us on the court."
Jackson first noticed Reisman as a fourth-grader playing knockout during recess in Milford. He thought "this kid is really good, what an athlete." Reisman school-choiced to Medway, and Johnson was shocked to see him again at basketball tryouts.
Their relationship developed during his sophomore year, when Reisman was a swing player between varsity at JV. Johnson started talking to him about changing his shot; his hand positioning didn't allow for consistent control, which made it difficult to repeat the motion and achieve the same rotation with the ball.
"He was a good shooter beforehand," said Jackson, who is also the director of Superstars Basketball School. "I wasn't going to try and fix his shot during the season because it usually takes an average of 10,000 shots, 10,000 reps, to be comfortable."
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10,000 reps
Reisman initiated the change over the summer. He worked with Jackson at his camp and Dwayne Powell at The Hoops Lab in Holliston. They met several times per week, breaking down video for areas to tweak.
"Each day he would improve. He came to me as much as he could in the summer," said Powell, a Lasell University alumn who has trained players for 15 years. "Every time he did a lesson he improved, and I could tell he was really working on it when he wasn’t in the gym as well."
Progress became a family affair. Reisman enlisted his older brother Griffin and his dad Harold to rebound the thousands of attempts.
"They were willing to do it even when I was frustrated," Reisman said. "It’s better to do things with other people than just by yourself."
He readied to join the team at the start of tryouts but injured his ankle right as they began. Reisman spent the preseason in a boot. After three scrimmages and one regular season game, he showed off the results of his hard work.
"Once they're in high school they're not willing to change their shot, they don't want to mess with their form. He was open and willing and it says a lot about who he is as a basketball player that he’s always willing to improve his game. He came in there with an open mind, never complained," Powell said. "He understood what it took to get better and he was willing to put in that work."
'I don't think I'm ever going to see that again'
Reisman controlled the entire quarter. He opened with a cut to the paint and finished a floater. The first few 3s followed. Then he ball faked to shift defenders away. Somehow he always had enough space.
"The more I watch it, the more I see how incredible it was," Jackson said.
At one point three Marauders tired to close out on his attempts. Reisman still buried the shot. He only missed once all quarter. That included two challenging and-one finishes through fouls. He flexed from the floor after each one.
"I’m just so proud of him and happy he gets to experience this because it’s something I don’t think I’m ever going to see again," Jackson said.
Medway brought a large student section to the rivalry game. Their reactions, along with the Mustangs' bench, escalated every time the ball swished through the net. Reisman pulled up for his final basket of the quarter from the right wing with 1:05 left. For some reason the Dedham defender allowed him airspace. He held his follow through until the ball dropped through the net then turned to the student section with a raucous scream.
"It felt good because sometimes you ask yourself what you’re really doing, and when something like this happens it makes you feel all the hard work pays off," Reisman said. "You’re not just doing it for no reason."
Contact Kyle Grabowski at kgrabowski@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kylegrbwsk.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: How Medway's Caden Reisman scored 27 points in one quarter
