Gaston College falls at nationally-ranked Chipola to end first semester

Gaston College's basketball team completed its first half of the schedule with a strong showing at nationally-ranked Chipola College on Sunday.

The Rhinos led at halftime at the No. 14 Indians before the host team rallied with a strong closing surge to win 71-58.

The loss drops Gaston College to 5-7 after the first semester with three losses to nationally-ranked teams and another defeat to an unbeaten post-graduate school team.

"Tough loss today," interim Gaston College coach Jermaine Williams said. "Chipola was as advertised. They're a team, program, and national ranked profile that we aspire to be as a brand. We were prepared for them, their personnel and how to match up with them offensively and defensively."

The Rhinos led 37-33 at the break and the teams were tied at 52 with 8:25 to play before Chipola closed the game on a 19-6 surge.

Kush Carter (15 points), Judah Ravenell (13 points, 6 rebounds), Tyheim Love (12 points, 4 assists), Asil Hoyle (7 points, 5 assists), Jamal Ukaegbu (7 points, 9 rebounds) and Jalante Edwards (2 points, 5 rebounds) led a balanced Gaston College attack.

"We played a great first half and ended up with a four-point lead," Williams said. "The first half wasn't a perfect first half but the team played with great energy and we got some stops.
"I warned the guys of how hard Chipola would play the second half. The first play featured Chipola getting a three-point play because we didn't get the 50/50 ball. That set the trend for the second half. We left too many unfinished/winning plays on the table."

The contest was a reunion for Williams and Chipola head coach Donnie Tyndall. Tyndall, in his fourth season at Chipola, is a former Tennessee, Southern Mississippi, Morehead State and Detroit Pistons G-League head coach and was an assistant coach at LSU, Middle Tennessee, Idaho and for the Toronto Raptors. (Williams played at LSU from 1998-2002 and Tyndall was one of his coaches.)

"I loved the match up and took great things from the coaching experience," Williams said. "I implored the guys to do the same, in terms of their performance against the Chipola players."

Gaston College is off until a Jan. 8 game at 7 p.m. at the Lees-McRae Developmental Team. The Rhinos will then play 16 of its final 17 regular season games against Region 10 competition.

"We took steps in the right direction and it wasn't enough," Williams said. "I think we learned a great deal from this game. I hate to lose. I look forward for having YaYa (Yarayah Evans) being eligible (for second semester). We will continue to grow in continuity, chemistry, and all positive aspects of being a team.
"We have goals for conference in 2024 and I look forward to our positive growth with the hopes that growth translates into wins."