Early lead not enough for Gaston College against Wake Tech

Two weeks after a strong second half gave Gaston College a road Region 10 victory at Wake Tech, the Eagles turned the tables on the Rhinos by picking up an 85-77 road victory at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.

Gaston College had won 85-79 at Wake Tech on Feb. 3 behind a strong second half.

But this time, the Eagles had the strong closing burst - and it came after the Rhinos had a strong start to the contest.

"You have to just try to find ways to hang your hat on the good things," Rhinos interim head coach Jermaine Williams said. "We had a solid start. We opened a nice lead but it's not sustained because we don't get a 50/50 ball that leads to Wake Tech getting a corner 3 to get some life.
"Plays like that, those 50/50 balls and offensive rebounds, really hurt us. I know we hate losing. But you can't win a game when you don't guard the ball and don't play tough. They out-toughed us and wanted it more."

Gaston College roared ahead 12-2 in the first five minutes and was ahead by a game-high 11 points at 24-13 with nine minutes left in the first half.

But the Eagles (15-12 overall, 8-5 Region 10) rallied to take a 41-40 halftime lead and built as much as a 13-point lead and held off a late Rhinos rally to take the victory.

Tyheim Love (19 points), Asil Hoyle (18 points, 4 rebounds), Kush Carter (12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Yarayah Evans (11 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks), Jamal Ukaegbu (7 points, 15 rebounds, 4 blocks) and Ajaden Gray (6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks) led Gaston College (9-16, 2-10).

"We play and don't do what we need to do to win," Williams said. "We play, compete and don't do what we need to do to win games. Guys are frustrated. It's all about the little things. We are not doing that as a collective unit and it's frustrating. But I'm not going to give up hope about where we're at and what we're trying to do."

Gaston College remains at home on Wednesday when it hosts No. 19 Region 10-leading Caldwell Tech (23-1, 11-0) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.