Gaston College's second semester sees return of Rhinos most veteran player

When Gaston College restarted its athletic program after 50 years in the fall of 2021, sophomore Yarayah Evans was there.

Now in his third year with the Rhinos' program, Evans has returned to action and is eager to provide talent and leadership to the team.

"I'm happy to be back," said Evans, a 6-foot-7, 225-pounder from Bronx, N.Y. nicknamed 'Yaya.' "It's going to be a fun second semester."

Evans actually returned to action in the current season on Monday night in Gaston College's 115-100 road win over the Lees-McRae developmental team.

He hopes to help the team carry over that winning momentum as the Rhinos start their 16-game Region 10 schedule on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Spartanburg Methodist.

"I'm extremely happy to be back on the court," said Evans, who enrolled too late to be eligible for first semester competition. "I've been watching, talking to (interim head) coach (Jermaine Williams) and taking notes."

Williams has certainly noticed Evans' penchant for details in the team's 5-7 first semester start against a challenging schedule that included three contests against nationally-ranked opponents and nine road/neutral court games.

"His biggest attribute is the fact that he's been right next to me and (assistant) coach (Blan) Hodges all season," Williams said. "So he's gotten a bird's eye view to know what's going on with this team."

Watching is something Evans had done before as he was redshirted during the Rhinos' inaugural 2021-22 season.

Last year, Evans averaged 6.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in 25 games (14 starts) in Gaston College's second year of returning to athletics.

"What I feel I can bring to the team is my athletic ability and my abilty to be a leader on the court," Evans said. "I've seen and played a lot of basketball. And I've learned a lot that should help this team on the court."

Hired in August as interim head coach, Williams and Hodges had a late start in building their roster for this season.

Williams had heard Evans still had eligibility remaining but wasn't sure if he was returning until doing some film work from last season and calling Evans' mother Doreen Senat.

"He (Evans) said in early August he had graduated and was getting some D1 offers," Williams said. "But he needed one more class, which meant he had to do one more year of juco.
"So, when school had started, I was asking the guys, 'Tell me about Yaya.' They were saying, 'With him in the post, we'd be a better team.' And when I physically saw the tape from last year, I said, 'Give me his number.'
"So I talked to him, talked to his mother and the rest is history."

Evans is happy he returned to Gaston College.

"I just wanted to be comfortable and know I was making the right decision for me," Evans said. "I spoke with my family and my mother. It took a little while to make that decision. But everything happens for a reason and I'm happy I'm here."

Williams sees Evans helping the team's rebounding immediately.

"He can get the 'man rebounds' that we haven't been getting," Williams said of Evans. "And he's going to be a scorer as well off the block. He's got a gear to him that he hasn't tapped into yet."

As part of Gaston College's 18-10 team that finished one game out of first place in its inaugural season when the Rhinos were ineligible for postseason as a first-year program and last year's 17-12 team that lost to eventual Region 10 champion Cape Fear Community College in the playoffs, Evans has high hopes for this year's team.

"I want us to go far in this conference," Evans said. "The goal for me is to win it all and to go to Hutch (at the National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament in Hutchison, Kansas). I think the team is on the same page as me on that.
"So I'm happy and I'm ready."