Region 10 road win gives Gaston College confidence heading into weekend back-to-back

Gaston College's basketball team continues its five-game Region 10 road trip this weekend with back-to-back matchups this weekend at perennial powers Cape Fear Community College and Brunswick Community College.

The Rhinos (9-12, 2-6), coming off an 85-79 win at Wake Tech, will play at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington on Friday night at 6 p.m. and at Brunswick Community College in Bolivia on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

Cape Fear Community College (11-7, 5-4) is the defending Region 10 champion and has won three of the last five Region 10 titles. Brunswick Community College (13-8, 6-2) last won a Region 10 title in 2021 and Dolphins head coach Walter Shaw is one of the country's winningest active coaches with 460 wins.

Both teams recently came to Gastonia's Ashbrook High gymnasium to post a pair of comeback victories over the Rhinos; On Jan. 14, Brunswick rallied from a 45-27 halftime deficit to beat Gaston College 72-70 on a follow shot with 7.2 seconds left and on Jan. 20, Cape Fear trailed 69-64 with 6:43 to play before closing the game on a 19-4 surge for an 83-73 victory.

"We're more frustrated with the Brunswick game because we had them beat and literally gave that game away," Rhinos interim head coach Jermaine Williams said. "Both Brunswick and Cape Fear had more of a sense of urgency and we didn't have that killer mentality that we needed to put the game away."

Gaston College enters with two wins in their last three games and the lone loss came at first-place Caldwell Tech (19-1, 7-0), which is ranked No. 23 nationally in the national Junior College Athletic Association poll.

The Rhinos responded from that loss with the win at Wake Tech.

"We were obviously happy to win but as a coach you're always looking for things you could've done better," Williams said. "We could've gotten the ball inside better, increased the level of intensity and our defense could've been better.
"I do like our versatility and what I've seen from us."

Tyheim Love (13.0 points, 2.3 assists), Asil Hoyle (12.3 points, 3.5 assists), Yarayah Evans (11.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 1.7 blocks), Kush Carter (9.5 points, 3.2 rebounds), Judah Ravenell (8.9 points, 5.4 rebounds), Jamal Ukaegbu (8.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.4 steals), Michael Smith (7.3 points, 5.3 rebounds) and Jalante Edwards (5.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists) lead he balanced Rhinos' lineup.

"We have seen everyone except Richard Bland in the conference," said Williams, whose team closes its five-game Region 10 road trip at Richard Bland on Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. "I think we have the pieces to make a run and win games."

Gaston College's next home game follows the ongoing five-game road trip as the Rhinos will host Wake Tech on Feb. 18 at 3 p.m. when they begin a regular season-ending stretch of five home games out of six contests.