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No more mental or physical hurdles for Gibbs' David Pierce

 
Gibbs junior guard David Pierce has come back strong from a knee injury in January to help lead the Gladiators through the 2016-17 season. He averages 25.5 points per game.
Gibbs junior guard David Pierce has come back strong from a knee injury in January to help lead the Gladiators through the 2016-17 season. He averages 25.5 points per game.
Published Dec. 20, 2016

ST. PETERSBURG

Gibbs High's boys basketball team was locked in a tie game in the final seconds against Auburndale. Everyone knew David Pierce was taking the last shot. The junior delivered, nailing a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the Dec. 17, 63-60 win.

Pierce, a junior, has turned into a prolific scorer. He is averaging 25.5 points per game, a total that ranks seventh-best in the state. He has scored 29 or more points in each of the past four games.

Perhaps the most impressive part of his scoring surge is that he is doing it less than a year after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.

When Pierce was injured in January, he went from the peak of his career to the abyss. He already had offers from colleges and was becoming a pivotal player for the Gladiators.

The physical pain was obvious. Pierce faced surgery and months of rehabilitation to heal the 1 ½-inch-long ribbon of tissue that stabilizes the knee.

The mental anguish was worse. The game he loved was about to be temporarily taken away. An ACL tear is among the cruelest injuries any athlete can suffer. It takes most a full calendar year to return to their sport and another year to regain their previous form.

"The injury at first was a shock to me," Pierce said. "It was tough to stay mentally strong for such a long period of time. That was really hard for me because the one thing I probably lacked before the injury was mental toughness."

When Pierce began rehabilitating his knee, he acted tough and invincible. He didn't let on to his teammates or trainers that the pain was excruciating.

"There were plenty of days I wanted to quit because of the repetition of the workload I was going through to get back," Pierce said.

Gibbs coach Larry Murphy already knew how tough the injury was to overcome. He tore his ACL his senior year at Florida Southern.

"I had a lot of doubts and fears about getting over that process and returning to the player I was before the injury," Murphy said "That's the biggest reason why I didn't try to play professionally after my college career was over.

"The mental aspect is the most difficult. But David handled that better than most. Once he was cleared, he showed he wasn't afraid of anything."

Pierce ignored conservative prescriptions for recovery. He vowed to not only return as one of the best players in the area but he would do it as quickly as possible.

By September, Pierce was back on the court. Piece by piece, he reassembled his game.

The Gladiators needed him — not only as a scorer but as leader of a team full of underclassmen starters.

After driving himself relentlessly for months, Pierce returned from his basketball exile as if he never left. His quickness was still there. So was his shooting touch. The only noticeable difference was the bulky brace he now wears to protect his knee.

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"It felt like nothing had changed," Pierce said. "It only felt that way because my focus was only on being back playing and not about the injury that I was coming off of."

After starting the season 2-2, Gibbs has won three of their last four, in large part to Pierce's ability to provide points.

"There were a lot of question marks with the team at the start of the season," Murphy said. "There was concern about how young we were and if David would come back to where he was. I knew we would be fine. It was just to take a while with the team and with David.

"But David already has showed that he's back in a big way."

Contact Bob Putnam at bputnam@tampabay.com. Follow @BobbyHomeTeam.