Gaston College basketball continues "road trip" with return game against nearby rival on Thursday

Ever since Gaston College basketball has returned to action three seasons ago, all three of the school's head coaches have talked about needing to have a "road warrior" mentality.

Because the school has had to use area high school gymnasiums for designated home games - including the last two years at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School - while also using a local church gymnasium (Gastonia's First United Methodist Church), that's to be expected.

This season, after opening the regular season with two home games, the Rhinos are in the midst of playing eight straight road or neutral site games. That continues on Thursday at 6 p.m. at nearby Cleveland Community College in Shelby.

"I actually love playing on the road, especially with our situation," said interim head coach Jermaine Williams, whose team improved to 2-2 with Saturday's 90-81 victory at Catawba Valley Community College. "We take advantage of the opportunity we get at Ashbrook, but we're ready to play whoever wherever it is."

Through four games, Tyheim Love (17.0 scoring average, 3.3 assist average), Asil Hoyle (13.8 scoring average, 2.8 rebounding average, 3.8 assist average), Michael Smith (12.3 scoring average, 6.8 rebounding average), Jamal Ukaegbu (11.3 scoring average, 7.0 rebounding average, 3.3 assist average), Kush Carter (10.5 scoring average, 2.8 rebounding average), Judah Ravenell (10.3 scoring average, 5.0 rebounding average), Ajaden Gray (4.0 scoring average, 3.3 rebounding) and Jalante Edwards (3.5 scoring average, 3.8 rebounding average) lead a balanced Gaston College attack.

"It's back to the drawing board and how can we get better, how can individuals get better and how to be more team-oriented," Williams said of this week's practice goal. "But everybody has got to get better."

In their first game of the season, Cleveland Community College roared ahead 9-2 in the first 2 1/2 minutes before Gaston College rallied to take a 38-35 halftime lead. After the Yetis countered to take a 57-56 lead with 9:32 to play, the Rhinos closed out the game with a 29-17 surge to win 85-74.

"They came in with the mindset of wanting to win so they'll be tough and we need to be tougher," Williams said of Cleveland Community College. "If we can stick to our game plan and how we can attack them offensively, I think we'll be fine as a group."

After Thursday's game, the Rhinos will spend the next two weekends playing in two-day tournaments - Nov. 25-26 at the Davidson-Davie Community College Thanksgiving Classic and Dec. 1-2 at the East Georgia State College Classic.

Following a Dec. 5 game at Lincolnton's Combine Academy, the Rhinos play their final home game of the first semester on Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. at Ashbrook against Double Exposure Hoops Academy.

The final game of the first semester is Dec. 17 at Chipola College in Marianna, Fla.