GRAVETTE -- It was "signing day" at Gravette High School last Thursday when the Lions' two-time All-State basketball player Terence Pierce "opened the box."
The box held a long-awaited answer to the question: Which of three schools, Southeastern Oklahoma State, Harding College or Missouri Southern University, will benefit from the Gravette senior's talent with the round ball?
Flanked by his parents, Jim and Dawn Pierce, and with Dustin Peters, GHS senior boys' basketball coach behind him, Terence took a small cardboard box, carefully pulled back the flaps and removed a ball cap which he ceremoniously placed on his head. Applause broke out among his fellow students who were present for the signing. The word "Southern" on the cap answered the question that had been on everyone's mind, even his father Jim's. "The suspense was killing him," Pierce said.
The All-State guard then picked up a pen and began signing the documents which assured he will continue to be a Lion, graduating from a Gravette Lion to become a collegiate Missouri Southern Lion in Joplin.
Pierce enjoyed an enviable career at Gravette High School. He was a stellar player on the junior high team. Graduating to the sophomore squad, he earned All-Conference honors, a feat he accomplished during his junior and senior years.
As a junior he was also named All-State. He repeated again this year, with All-State recognition, capping his 12 years in Gravette schools.
The 6-foot-3 senior, in January, established a new school career high mark, 1,975 points. This includes 234 3-point shots, 86 of them this season, where he averaged 26.5 points per game, and this in spite of facing every type of defense strategy against his shooting, ball handling and rebounding ability. He had achieved the school 3-point shot record in a game against Ozark with nine behind the circle swishes, only to top it in a game against Berryville two months later.
Pierce added a final honor when he was chosen All-NWA Media Boys' Player of the Year, an award given by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He will play in the All-Star Game in June, which will be played in Conway.
Coach Peters said he knew when Pierce was an eighth grader that he could be a special player. "He's always had a scorer's mentality. He's one of those players who can miss 3-4-5 shots and it doesn't bother him. He knows he's going to hit the next one."
Chip Souza and Henry Apple contributed to this story.
Sports on 05/14/2014