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Observer-Reporter Athlete of the Week

4 min read
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Name: Justice Rice

School: Monessen

Year: Junior

Sport: Basketball

Rice’s week: As the Greyhounds move closer to clinching their third consecutive Section 3-A title and a top seed in the WPIAL playoffs, their 6-2 point guard led them to five wins last week.

Rice, a two-year starter, scored 69 points in wins over Avella, Geibel, Belle Vernon, West Greene and Ambridge. Against the Bridgers, in the Pittsburgh Classic at Montour High School Saturday night, he recorded a triple-double with 15 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds in a 80-52 win.

He also scored 25 points against West Greene and 20 in a non-section game against rival Belle Vernon.

“I told him that great players rise to the occasion and he’s one of them,” Monessen head coach Joe Salvino, who earned his 600th career win last week, said. “He’s a player that always contributes and tries to do his very best every single game. He’s always involved.”

More memories: It was almost two year ago when Rice went from an unknown freshman on a talented roster to a key figure in Monessen’s playoff run.

After being elbowed in the nose during the first half of a WPIAL Class A semifinal game against Vincentian Academy at Montour in 2014, Rice scored 23 points to help the Greyhounds pull off an electrifying, 110-99 win to advance to the WPIAL championship game.

He went on to lead Monessen to the WPIAL championship as a sophomore last season and is averaging 17.2 points per game for the Greyhounds, who are one win away from clinching the Section 3-A title this year.

“To outsiders it may seem like my freshman year was a long time ago, but to me, it’s gone by so fast,” Rice said. “It feels like just yesterday that I had that big game against Vincentian. That experience helped me so much. Playing that much early in my career made the game go slower for me.”

Rice is in a unique position on Salvino’s roster. Not only is he tasked with being the quarterback of an offense that averages 92.8 points per game, but he’s also a key rebounder on defense and has developed into a team leader.

When Monessen’s offense is moving too quickly, he’s tasked with slowing it down and picking it up when it moves too slow.

“He’s made great strides,” Salvino said. “He’s learning the game as the years gone by. As a freshman, he contributed very well in that game against Vincentian, but he’s learned it a little bit more. We have him now as the one man, so he handles the ball a little bit more and sets things up.”

Family business: Last week held a special meaning for Rice. He scored 19 points in Monessen’s win over Avella Monday, which was his 17th birthday. In the stands were his father, Craig, who played on Salvino’s first team during the 1984-85 season, and his grandfather, Maurice, who was a standout athlete at Monessen and was once Salvino’s mailman.

Salvino described Craig, who was named all-section as a senior in 1985, as a more physical player, but said Justice is “probably a little bit better of a player than his father was.”

“My dad always tells me stories about the big games he was in and stories of Salvino,” Rice said. “He can see himself in the way that I play.”

Compiled by Lance Lysowski

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