Rice Shines Bright

BC Standout Star Of Stars

by Stephen M. Lewis
Content Editor

Tyrese Rice was the star of stars Saturday evening.

Boston College’s standout point guard registered 37 points to lead Richmond Alumni over Tri-Cities Alumni 110-106 in the Second Annual Nick Burd Benefit Game at Matoaca High School.

Richmond, full of Burd’s former AAU teammates, trailed most of the first half until Rice led a comeback with nice slashes to the basket, cutting a nine-point deficit to two at the half, 55-53.

It was more of the same as Richmond took control of the second half, but Trey Mines (Virginia State) drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to give Tri-Cities a 73-70 lead with 15:00 to go.

That’s when someone took over.

“It was real good. The game was fun,” former Prince George star Reggie Williams
(20 points), now at Virginia Military Institute, said. “It kind of got
opened up by somebody at one point, but I’m not going to say any names.”

Well, it was Rice. The former L.C. Bird star hit back-to-back
3-pointers for a 84-79 lead, barking at the crowd after his second hit.

He drilled another trey seconds later to put Richmond ahead by
six, before finishing an old-fashioned three-point play for a 90-81
lead with 8:40 on the clock.

Tyrese Rice (left) put in 37 points to pace Richmond Alumni.

Richmond led by 11 on a layup from Scott Grable (10 points) four minutes later.

Williams drove Tri-Cities within six with 3:00 left before Rice ended their hopes with a two-handed jam and an alley-oop slam from former Bird teammate and two-time slam dunk champion Shamar Acuay.

But everyone’s performance was all for Burd, the former Matoaca basketball star who was paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident nearly two years ago.

His ongoing battle to walk again continues at Woodrow Wilson Clinic, where in just two weeks Burd sees progress.

Nick Burd (24) was the honorary sixth-man for Team Richmond, who took their second straight victory over Tri-Cities.

“Nick’s the greatest kid,” said Chris Harris, a former teammate of Burd’s for three years in AAU play. Harris is now at Navy. “He’s handled this whole thing so positively. I haven’t seen some of these guys in years. I love to do it.”

Said Williams of Burd, who was headed to VMI to play with Williams: “He was a real good player. He was solid. He hustled. He gave [Matoaca] what they needed.”

And Burd’s friends gave him what he needed – support.

“It’s crazy to me, all the love I’m getting. All the love my homies are
showing me,” Burd said. “They’re just doing so good. I’m super proud of
them.

“And they still come back for a weekend and chill with their boy.”

Richmond Alumni 53 57 – 110

Tri-Cities Alumni 55 51 – 106

Richmond: Reid Augst (UNC Asheville, Benedictine) 4, Scott
Grable (Elon, P. Henry) 10, John Hannah (Florida State) 0, Chris Harris
(Navy, Benedictine) 9, Brett James (Elon, M. Godwin) 5, Tyrese Rice
(Boston College, L.C. Bird) 37, Drew Shiembob (St. Christopher’s) 7,
D.J. Short (Queens Charlotte, Clover Hill) 0, Shamar Acuay (L.C. Bird)
4, Donald Johnson 22, Calvin Brothers 8, Travis Ponton 0.

Nick Burd, Benefit Game, 6/16/07

Nick Burd

Tri-Cities:
Montino Williams (Chowan, Hopewell) 0, Brad Byerson (Va. Union, T.
Dale) 19, Steve Wilson (Clarke College) 4, Brandon Byerson (Va. Union,
T. Dale) 5, Trey Mines (Va. State, T. Dale) 11, Darius Robinson 2,
David Wright (Mt. Olive) 1, Terrell Crockett (Va. State, Prince George)
21, Dario Walker (Norfolk St. football, Matoaca) 0, Ricardo Lipscomb
(Hartford, Matoaca) 3, Shawn Harris (Va. Tech, Matoaca) 10, Calvin Lee
(Allegheny, Matoaca) 0, Reggie Williams (VMI, Prince George) 20, Tarail
Jones (Hopewell) 1, Mark Wilson (Hopewell) 0.