All-Shore backcourt has Monmouth basketball rising. How high can Hawks fly?

WEST LONG BRANCH – Xander Rice remembers playing against Jakari Spence in fifth and sixth grade in the Mid Monmouth League. Jack Collins, a few years younger, knew of them from playing at places like the HoopGroup in Neptune while growing up, with his Manasquan High School team playing Spence and Toms River North a few times.

Now this trio of Jersey Shore natives have come together to form the starting backcourt a much-improved Monmouth University team.

Their on-court chemistry has been a key component in the turnaround, with Monmouth (6-5) looking to equal its win total from last season with a victory against Manhattan at OceanFirst Bank Center Thursday (2 p.m.; SNY/FloSports.com).

The three are combining to score 35.9 points-per-game, along with 8.1 assists and 11.4 rebounds.

“It’s really cool,” said Rice, a graduate transfer guard from Bucknell and son of Monmouth head coach King Rice. “I think a lot of the shared experiences we had growing up around here, that’s probably helped us mesh together in the backcourt just because we went through a lot of the same stuff all throughout high school and earlier.”

Now Xander Rice is averaging 18.9 points, third best in the Coastal Athletic Association, and Collins, named to the CAA All-Rookie team last season, is second on the team at 11.2 ppg. and 6.0 rebounds. And Spence, a senior walk-on with a year of eligibility remaining, is averaging 5.5 points and leads the team in steals, while hitting a recent game-winning buzzer-beater against Northern Illinois.

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“Jakari is getting a scholarship next year,” King Rice said. “He’s a real guy for us and we’re lucky that we have him. He basically saved us last year. Being a kid that ended up starting for a lot of the season and really made our team better.

“They’ve really played well together. You have to give Xander some credit on how he came in the door. He came a month early. He just became friends with them, showed them his work ethic, how much this means to him. He was like, ‘guys, let’s do this for us.’ He’s a leader and those guys follow him.”

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Monmouth has a history with Shore Conference guards over the years. Red Bank’s Mustafa Barksdale (1993-97) and CBA’s Jason Krayl (2000-04) and Chris Kenny (2002-06) all topped 1,000 points. Several area players have had an impact during Rice’s 13 seasons, including CBA’s Louie Pillari and Manchester’s Shavar Reynolds, who transferred from Seton Hall to help the Hawks win 21 games in 2021-22.

But to have the team’s success so closely tied to players from Monmouth and Ocean counties is unheard of, putting a spotlight on the level of talent the area is producing.

“That’s a big thing for me. I like to represent my town a lot, being from Manasquan, being where I’m from, and I know these guys are like that, too,” Collins said. “So representing my town and the Shore is a big thing.”

In all, seven players on the Monmouth roster, including walk-ons, are local products.

“It was not the plan to do it that way but it’s really cool,” King Rice said. “We live on the Shore. and when we find kids we think can enhance our program, we try to get them.”

Coaching with a heavy heart

King Rice was a North Carolina teammate of former Tar Heels’ big man Eric Montross, who died of cancer this week at age 52. Montross, who played eight seasons in the NBA, played alongside Rice during the 1990-91 season, while Monmouth assistant coach Brian Reese played with Montross on the Tar Heels’ 1993 national championship team.

“I remember when he was just a young dude,” Rice said. “I was roommates with him my senior year when we played in Orlando in a Christmas Tournament, and he was struggling a little bit. And I just talked to him about what it meant to be as big-time of a player as he was at North Carolina. He was just this big kid, and then he became a man and he was one of the nicest people. I was there when he met his wife. Just too young for that to happen."

Rice lost another close friend this week, driving to his hometown of Binghamton, New York, on Sunday to spend time with a friend and former high school teammate, Randy Wimberly, who passed away Tuesday.

More on Manhattan

Manhattan is in its first season under coach John Gallagher, with Steve Masiello, a close friend of Rice’s, fired prior to the start of the 2022-23 season. Monmouth’s only win during a 1-20 start last season was at Manhattan.

“They run some really, really good stuff,” Rice said. “They will do the zones Steve did, just a little different, They do a 1-1-3, go 1-3-1, they’re just throwing different defenses at you just to keep you off balance. And that is a good plan because a lot of teams don’t change defenses a lot so you get used to how people play.”

Manhattan comes in with a 4-5 record, having lost at home to FDU, 76-71, last Friday in their last game.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth basketball: All-Shore backcourt has Hawks flying high