Gaston College wins Region 10 opener on the road

Gaston College added a successful return to National Junior College Athletic Association Region 10 play on Saturday afternoon in Wilmington.

The Rhinos' basketball team won its Region 10 opener 78-75 at Cape Fear Community College to improve to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in the region.

"I think our team took a huge step today in terms of growing up and understanding just how difficult it is to win on the road," said Gaston College coach David "Dickey" Nutt, whose team hosts Spartanburg Methodist at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at North Gaston High School in its first Region 10 home game of the season. "Damon (Davis) and Kalil (Camara) were especially good today but Dee Merriweather and Dedrick Givens really gave us some good minutes off the bench."

The Rhinos trailed briefly in the first half before taking the lead for good with 1:06 left in the opening half and led by as many as 11 points in the second half before holding off a late Sea Devils' (6-2, 0-1) rally.

Gaston College made three free throws in the final 22.6 seconds to hold on for the win, including Dedrick Givens' conversion with 2.2 seconds left for the final margin.

Davis (19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), Camara (15 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals), Merriweather (12 points) and Givens (12 points, 11 rebounds) led the Rhinos, with Merriweather's 3-pointer with 2:50 to play off a pass from Davis perhaps the game's biggest shot; It increased a 66-64 lead to 69-64 lead.

Gaston College was hampered by significant foul trouble as Zavion Johnson, Joshua Jackson and Jaylen Bates all were disqualified with five fouls and three other players had three or more fouls.

"I'm so proud of the guys today," Nutt said. "Played with some toughness. Our defense was good today. What doesn't show up on a stat sheet is our post defense tonight. We held their 2021 Region 10 player of the year Talton Jones to 12 points. The team's dedication night (on Friday) before our conference play was a good thing for us. Bonding and growing and learning to trust each other is so crucial in having a winning program. This certainly makes the trip home really nice."