Bears’ Rice inks with WKU, Price signs with UT Martin

Published 11:34 pm Tuesday, November 19, 2024

by Jeff Nations

MORGANTOWN – Having a signing day featuring a future NCAA Division I athlete is a rare privilege for most high school coaches.

Having two sign with D1 programs in the same day? Now that’s something special.

You can’t blame Butler County boys’ basketball coach Calvin Dockery for looking on like a proud papa bear Tuesday when two of his star Bears did just that, as standout forward Lawson Rice signed with Western Kentucky and high-scoring point guard Ty Price signed with UT Martin in a combined ceremony at the school.

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“Just incredible work ethic,” Dockery said of the pair. “I think that’s one thing that you can look at both of these young men and if you know them, they work extremely hard. They put in time, not just in practice but outside of practice to be the best that they can possibly be and it’s obviously brought them to the point where they’ve had great success.”

The duo combined to help lead Butler County to historic new heights last season, as the Bears won the Region 3 Tournament championship to qualify for the KHSAA Boys’ Sweet Sixteen state tournament for the first time in school history.

That team, which finished 23-9 overall with a rigorous schedule, won’t look quite the same this season. Rice, a 6-foot-7 forward who averaged a double-double with 18 points and 10.7 rebounds per game last season, might miss the entire year after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during an open gym session last month. Now six weeks into rehabilitation on the injured knee, Rice is ahead of schedule and hasn’t entirely been ruled out to return late in the season for the Bears.

“I would love it if some point this season we could see him back on the floor, but my main thing right now is just him being 100% healthy and ready to go,” Dockery said. “If that happens and we get to see it in a Butler County jersey, I’m going to be ecstatic. If not, I’m going to watch some Western games.”

Rice got his offer from WKU over the summer after impressing the coaching staff with his play during a team camp.

“They’d been to some of our practices and watched us, so I already knew who they were and the coaches knew who I was,” Rice said. “Then over the summer we played in a team camp up there and I feel like I showcased my ability pretty well. They watched me through AAU and kept up with me, so I’d been in contact with them for awhile but I feel like I put on a good showcase at my camp. I got to play more of the wing spot at the camp and they liked that.”

The left-handed Rice already has some homework from his future coaches at WKU as he goes about getting his knee back up to strength.

“I think they want me to be more confident on my shot, especially the perimeter,” Rice said. “I feel like I’m a pretty good shooter – I shot 40% last year. Just working on being confident, shooting it more and then just working on athleticism and jumping off two (feet) more because I’m usually a one-foot jumper. At the college level you need to be able to stop, be in control and play off two more. That’s one thing they told me to work on.”

With Rice out most of the season at a minimum, the weight of leading the Bears falls even more heavily on the shoulders of Price. The sharp-shooter has been more than up to the task during a high school career that started at South Warren before shifting to Butler County the past two seasons.

“As a team we still have the same goal, even with Lawson going down,” Price said. “A state championship – we think we have the team and the tools that can achieve that goal.”

Consider Price the ultimate multi-tool for Butler County. The Bears’ point guard is up to 2,469 career points after averaging a stellar 29 points per game last season and has already made his mark as one of the deadliest 3-point shooters in Kentucky high school history with 371 made triples. Price tied former WKU and Kentucky standout Patrick Sparks for the Region 3 single-game record with 12 3-pointers against McLean County last year.

But Price is far from just a scorer, Dockery said.

“He has really good court vision but he wants to improve his ability to facilitate and help others,” Dockery said. “That just opens up things for him, the more that he can put pressure on the defense from other guys the less the defense can just be completely sold out to him. So I think he’s going to have the ball in his hands a lot.”

Price said the UT Martin coaching staff wanted him to continue working to get stronger to withstand the rigors of the college game, but also to have fun in his final season with the Bears.

As for his future with the Skyhawks, Price thinks he fits just right with their style of play.

“They play a two point guard system, so it just kind of depends who gets the ball coming up the court,” Price said. “They’ve got three point guards right now and they start two, and at the same time they’ve always got two in the game so I’m fine with playing either position.”

About Jeff Nations

Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News

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