'It's been a long time coming': Former BC High stars Pierre and Evee reunite at Rice

When Carl Pierre announced he would enter the college basketball transfer portal last March, his former BC High teammate Travis Evee sprung into action.

Almost immediately, Evee, a point guard by trade, turned into a pitchman to sell Pierre on the possibility of a reunion for the two at Rice University.

“Probably day of, probably couple hours after. I don’t even know if that long after,” said Evee of when he reached out to Pierre after learning he was in the transfer market. “I didn’t waste any time.”

Pierre, who enjoyed plenty of success over four seasons at UMass and finished second all-time in program history for made 3-pointers, didn’t need much convincing from Evee to take his talents to Rice.

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The longtime friends joked about the idea of joining forces during Pierre’s time at UMass. As Pierre weighed his options with several teams after his services, having a familiar face already established within a program became a major factor in his decision.

“I wasn’t surprised that he had reached out,” Pierre said. “I think we both had that thought in mind, but I was definitely excited of the possibility of it. It’s been a long time coming and we haven’t played (together) in a long time. There’s just been some unfinished business based on how our high school careers ended. It was definitely exciting to be able to have the opportunity to play together again.”

Pierre and Evee forged a tight-knit bond well before getting back together on the Houston campus. It started when the two played on a Randolph travel basketball team as young teenagers and with basketball uniting them, they also became close off the court. It helped that they lived only five minutes apart from one another as well and they took the time to get to know each other’s families.

Their relationship further developed at BC High, where Evee made the varsity team as a freshman with Pierre, a year ahead of Evee, also on the squad. Evee felt that had a significant impact on their friendship as they leaned on each other while experiencing the ups-and-downs a season can bring, especially for two underclassmen looking to cement their roles on the floor.

Pierre and Evee certainly figured things out, putting together decorated careers with the Eagles. Pierre, the 2017 Catholic Conference MVP as a senior, netted over 1,000 career points and Evee not only followed suit but surpassed Pierre a year later by becoming BC High’s all-time leading scorer with 1,403 points.

“He’s like a brother to me,” Evee said. “Before basketball, he’s like family to me. For us to (have a) passion and love for the game, it just made our relationship even sweeter. Even stronger.”

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That connection has now paid dividends for Rice, with Pierre and Evee practically in lockstep leading the Owls in scoring this season.

Evee, who transferred to Rice after being the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year at the Virginia Military Institute, is averaging 14.8 points per game. For the 6-foot-1, 180-pound sophomore guard, he also leads the team in steals and is second in assists a season after he was named Conference USA Newcomer of the Year.

With the help of Evee, Pierre has made the transition to a new team look seamless. He is just barely ahead of Evee as the Owls top scorer with 14.9 points, but the 6-foot-4, 190-pound graduate transfer has provided more than just scoring with his professional and workman-like attitude setting a positive example.

“Carl, we call it like an everyday guy,” said Rice head coach Scott Pera. “He’s the same every day. He’s got a smile, works his butt off, wants to win and so when you’re an everyday guy like that, you can’t help if you’re a player but to respect that, so that helps you fit in quicker, too.”

Pierre and Evee have also routinely put their terrific long-range shooting on display. For Pierre, who wasn’t heavily recruited out of high school, his 41.2 percent mark from downtown leads all of Conference USA. Again, Evee isn’t far behind, hitting 39.9 percent of his 3-point shots.

The two sharpshooters like to test their immense ability against one another, taking time after practice or during routine summer workouts to try to best one another with their competitive juices flowing.

Pierre and Evee will go head-to-head in pretty much anything, from shooting 3-pointers to catch-and-shoot drills and to the more traditional one-on-one battle. These competitions can become heated with Pierre and Evee both trying to gain the upper hand.

The underrated part of Pierre’s game might just be the trash-talking he dishes out during these matchups with Evee, according to Pera, who likens Evee to more of a “silent assassin.” Pierre disagrees with that assessment, but what is certain is the two are constantly pushing one another, like brothers do.

“Both of us are pretty competitive, so it’s come down to times where we were talking a lot of trash,” said Evee cracking a smile, “the ball might have got thrown at someone a couple times, couple two-hand shoves, but it was all healthy competition.”

Evee added: “We did everything we could to be competitive with each other, make each other better. That almost became an every day after practice thing, especially in the summers we were playing a lot.”

Pierre and Evee have been unrelenting on their opponents as well. In a win over Marshall on Jan. 15, the two teamed up to torch the Thundering Herd by combining for 52 points. Pierre tied a career-high by draining eight 3-pointers in the contest to finish with 30 points while Evee made 9-of-13 shots and wound up with 22.

The stellar performance was reminiscent of the way the duo attacked defenses together during their high school days, including when they combined for 56 points during Pierre’s senior year in a win over Malden Catholic.

“I think it’s a little bit of both in terms of nostalgia and it being surreal,” Pierre said. “We’re both playing at a higher level now. It just reminds you of all the days playing in the gym at BC High and having similar games like that.”

When Pierre played his final game for BC High in a 2017 Division 1 South semifinal loss to Needham, Evee thought that was the last time the two would put on the same jersey.

It seemed that way and as the years passed, Evee could only imagine what it would be like to share the court with Pierre again. Until it finally came to fruition this year, and for Pierre and Evee, it has lived up to expectations.

“I think it’s been everything that we dreamt it would be when he came to Rice,” Evee said.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Carl Pierre, Travis Evee back together again for Rice men's basketball