Road wins gives Gaston College its second Region 10 victory in its last three games

Gaston College took its second Region 10 basketball victory in three games with a come-from-behind 85-79 victory at Wake Tech on Saturday afternoon.

"Today was special, simply because the program won," Rhinos interim head coach Jermaine Williams said. "We stood together when it got tough and got to celebrate a great victory over a really good team."

Gaston College (9-12, 2-6) trailed by as many as five points in a first half that saw the host Eagles take a 43-39 lead at halftime.

In the second, the Rhinos opened with a 12-2 surge to take a 51-45 lead with 15:54 to play and never trailed again. Wake Tech (11-12, 4-5) closed within two points three times in the final minute of the game but the Rhinos responded each time.

"It's a great win for the team, the program, the morale and the psyche for the Gaston College Rhinos," said Williams, whose team had lost its first five Region 10 games before winning two of the last three contests. "I thank the team, assistant coach (Blan) Hodges and God for the win.
"I know it gets stale, old, bad and demoralizing for everything when you're losing. Who wants to just play and lose? No one."

Yarayah Evans (21 points, 11 rebounds) had the team's first double-double of the season to lead Gaston College on Saturday. And the Rhinos also got huge contributions from Tyheim Love (17 points), Asil Hoyle (14 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists), Jamal Ukaegbu (6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocked shots), Jalante Edwards (6 points, 7 rebounds), Ajaden Gray (6 points, 6 rebounds) and Judah Ravenell (6 points, 3 rebounds).

Love scored five of his points in the final 54.2 seconds and Ukaegbu had a huge free throw with 6.5 second left as the Rhinos held off the Eagles' second half rally from as much as a pair of 12-point leads in the second half.

"Coach Hodges and myself understand winning and what it takes to win," Williams said. "We are trying to get the guys to understand that winning just doesn't happen. If you don't know how to win, you have to learn how to do so. We practice hard and play hard but will continue to work on the little things to learn how to win."

Gaston College continues its current five-game, 16-day road trip next weekend when it visits Cape Fear Community College on Friday at 6 p.m. and Brunswick Community College on Saturday at 3 p.m. before closing out the trip on Feb. 15 at Richard Bland.

"We have seen everyone except Richard Bland in the conference," Williams said. "We have the pieces to make a run and win games."

The Rhinos' next home game is Feb. 18 against Wake Tech at 3 p.m. at the Ashbrook High School gymnasium.