Gaston College drops Region 10 home opener to hot-shooting Spartanburg Methodist

A hot-shooting Spartanburg Methodist team was too much for Gaston College to overcome Wednesday night in its Region 10 home opener at North Gaston High School.

The visiting Pioneers hit six of their first eight 3-pointers and finished with 11 3-pointers overall in a 69-56 victory.

"I certainly give them a lot of credit," Gaston College coach David "Dickey" Nutt said. "They seemed to hit every shot early on."

The Rhinos (8-4, 1-1) fell behind by 12 points midway through the first half before closing within five points twice late in the first half and within four points at 52-48 with 8:29 to play before Spartanburg Methodist (9-1, 1-0) closed out the game on a 17-8 surge.

The Pioneers received votes in this week's National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Top 25 poll that also includes No. 8 Northwest Florida, which defeated Gaston College 85-70 on Nov. 20. Jamarvious Jones led Spartanburg Methodist with a game-high 22 points.

"We didn't shoot the ball particularly well and they probably had something to do with that," Nutt said. "Playing against one of the top teams in the country, you've got to do things perfect. And we certainly didn't do that. I thought our effort was good and we made a couple of runs. But they held us off."

Jaylen Bates (18 points, 10 rebounds), Kalil Camara (8 points, 9 rebounds) and Da'marco Watson (7 points, 6 assists) led the Rhinos, who lost leading scorer Damon Davis to an ankle injury with 14 minutes left in the first half.

"We have to have all of our people," Nutt said. "And when Damon went down, that was certainly a blow to us. But we're going to bounce back. This is a marathon. We can't let one game define us."

Gaston College returns to action on Sunday at Pitt Community College at 3 p.m. before returning home against Blue Lights College next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Gaston Christian School in the Rhinos' last game before the holiday break.

"We've got to get ready for another non-conference game on Sunday and then back home on Wednesday," Nutt said. "I'll say this: it takes a tremendous amount of toughness to be the best and we are not there yet, but I'm very confident in our guys and their willingness to respond. The sun will come up tomorrow and its back to work. We will get better.
"I also wanted to thank everyone that came out tonight to cheer for our guys, as we had a really good crowd. Thank you!"