Rice represents PHS in Sun Senior Classic

Three Clay County players were on the winning white squad at the Sun Senior Classic Sunday in Jonesboro, from left--Zack Brown of Corning, Rob Rice of Piggott and Kyle Harvey of Corning. Two other Clay County players were on the losing blue squad, Justin Duke and Blake McCarroll of Rector. (Times photo/Tim Blair) [Click to enlarge]

Piggott's Rob Rice represented PHS Sunday in the Sun Senior Classic all-star basketball game at Jonesboro High School. Rice, a standout basketball and football player for the Tribe, played on the winning white team that was coached by Brad Brannen of the Bay Yellowjackets.

During his career at PHS Rice scored over 1,000 points, eclipsing the mark on senior night earlier this year. Joining him on the white squad were Zack Brown and Kyle Harvey of Corning, Lucas Nutt of Jonesboro High School, Keith Marrs of the Wynne Yellowjackets, Wade Hamilton of Bay, Hunter Saffell of Valley View and Wes Livingston and Zach Mitchell of Greene County Tech.

The blue team, which was coached by Frankie Gathen of the Osceola Seminoles, included Justin Duke and Blake McCarroll of the Rector Cougars, Drew Smith and Jalynn Mitchell of Nettleton, Deantre Scott of Gosnell, Trase Davis of Greene County Tech, Dikembe Wells of Blytheville and Brandon Jones and Roy Pugh of Osceola.

Following the pre-game warm up, which resembled a slam-dunk contest more than a layup line, the two teams got the contest underway and no one went home disappointed.

Rector's Justin Duke nailed the first basket, a three pointer, for the blue squad as the contest got underway. Throughout the first quarter the teams swapped baskets and the score at the end of the first quarter stood at 26-26. In the second quarter, behind several more Duke three-point-baskets, the blue squad pulled out to a 55-50 lead and took that into the locker room at the half.

In the third quarter both teams scored 30 points, and the score stood at 85-80 going into the final frame. In that final quarter the game MVP, Zach Mitchell of GCT, stepped up and willed the white team into the lead with several big baskets. He finished with 23 points, including a Sun Senior Classic record of seven three pointers, as the white team pulled out the 111-106 win.

Rice, who started for the white squad, never found his rhythm and finished with five points on the game, along with several steals and assists. Also in double figures for the white squad were Nutt with 17, Livingston with 15, Marrs with 12, Saffell with 11 and Corning's Kyle Harvey with 10.

For the blue team they were led by Scott with 23, Pugh with 20, Duke with 18 and Jones with 12. The other Rector Cougar, McCarroll, had five points in the loss.

The Sun Senior Classic is presented by the Jonesboro Sun, and sponsored by Central Dealerships of Jonesboro. The event is held each year to raise money in support of the "Newspapers in Education" program that provides newspapers to classrooms as an essential part of the study of current events. The day also included a girls' game, and among those participants was another Rector Cougar, as senior Hillary Calhoun played on the losing blue squad in that game. The final in the girls contest was 98-65 in favor of the white squad.