LaPoynor's Cort Reid. (Brandon Ogden/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

POYNOR — Playing basketball is something Cort Reid has done a lot of in his life.

The son of LaPoynor head boys basketball coach Jim Reid, Cort has grown up around the game.

“When we were in Quitman, Cort was in the third grade, and we practiced at the elementary, so every day from third grade and into high school, he’s been at a varsity basketball practice every day,” Coach Reid said.

Cort played more than 100 games in his first three years of high school. He was a freshman on the LaPoynor team that went 33-7 and advanced to the Class 2A state semifinals. His sophomore year, the Flyers went 33-8 and made it all the way to the Class 2A state championship game. And then as a junior, Cort and the Flyers went 24-12 and advanced to the Class 2A Region III semifinals.

Cort’s senior year, however, has been filled with challenges. During the summer, he broke his ankle. Then he got very sick at the start of the season but played through it. Around Thanksgiving, Cort played through turf toe.

But as Christmas approached, Cort experienced something that would force him away from the court.

On Dec. 23, 2024, Cort went to his parents in the kitchen and told them his chest was hurting a little bit.

“I thought maybe it was a chest cold or something like that,” Coach Reid said.

Cort played golf on Dec. 24 and went running on Dec. 25, and something still didn’t feel right.

So as the Flyers were getting ready to go compete in the Championship Basketball Tournament in Fort Worth Dec. 26-28, Cort and his mother, Brooke, went to the doctor.

Cort was put into the hospital with spontaneous pneumothorax, also known as a detached lung. The Reid family was informed that Cort had a birth defect called congenital emphysema.

“A couple of days before Christmas, I had a sharp pain in my chest,” Cort said. “When I first recognized it, I thought it was nothing. We went to the doctor a few days later, and my lung detached from my rib cage.

“I thought I would just be out a day or two, but they said I would have to have a procedure done and be out a month.”

Cort had to be hooked up to a chest tube. He was eventually released from the hospital on Dec. 29.

“Being in the hospital isn’t fun definitely, especially with a tube sticking out of your chest and air blowing into it the whole time,” Cort said. “But I got through it because my family was there with me the whole time, and my girlfriend, Eden, was there too. And the good Lord was able to get me through it, and everybody supporting me.”

“The doctor said when this happens, it should feel like you’ve been shot,” Coach Reid said. “We found out how tough he was during this.”

Cort would have to ease his way back into returning into the court.

The Flyers were 15-4 with him before the Christmas break. With Cort in the hospital, LaPoynor played in the Championship Basketball Tournament, falling to Class 3A No. 3 Hitchcock, Class 3A No. 25 Peaster and Class 4A No. 16 Krum and taking a win over Panhandle.

Cort missed 10 games overall with the Flyers going 4-6 in that span.

“I’ve been playing basketball since I can remember,” Cort said. “It was definitely not easy not being out there with my guys.

“But it also let me see what it would be like after high school and what it would be like not playing. And I think it made me more grateful for the opportunity I was given these four years. Yeah, I missed 10 games, but I got to play over like 125 games, so it made me more grateful for the games I got to play.”

“I just wanted him to be able to go out on his own terms, which fortunately, the Lord has let him come back where he can do that,” Coach Reid said.

After high school, Cort will major in engineering at Texas A&M University, officially retiring from the game of basketball.

But first, Cort is looking to finish off his senior season and his high school career on a strong note.

In Cort’s first game back on Jan. 24, an 81-20 win over Fruitvale, he had 35 points, six rebounds, four assists and five steals. He followed that up with 38 points in an 89-37 win over Cross Roads. Then in the last two games, against two of the teams LaPoynor lost to in Cort’s absence, he had 34 points and nine rebounds in 78-73 road victory over Frankston and 31 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, three steals and two charges taken in an 80-55 victory against Cayuga.

This season, Cort has scored 688 points (31.7 points per game), and he’s averaging 6.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.5 steals per game. He’s taken 21 charges — three since his return — and he’s shooting 82.8 percent from the free-throw line.

For his career, Cort has scored 2,261 points, grabbed 748 rebounds, dished out 618 assists and had 321 steals.

Cort will play his final home game Tuesday when LaPoynor hosts Alba-Golden at 6 p.m. for the regular-season finale. The Flyers (22-10) will then head into the playoffs in the Class 2A Division II bracket looking to make another deep playoff run.

“What we’ve been saying this whole year is we don’t want to be playing our best in December or November, we want to keep getting better, and I think we’ve been doing that,” Cort said. “We haven’t hit our peak yet, and we’re still getting better, so I think as we hit the playoffs, we will be starting to roll. Hopefully we can make a deep run and get all the way to San Antonio.”