Gaston College picks up another huge road win, this time at defending Region 10 champion

Gaston College's basketball team continues to be the "road warriors" of Region 10 with a 66-65 win on Wednesday afternoon at Brunswick Community College.

It was the Rhinos' fourth road win out of five league road games and was the first of a three-game conference road trip.

"I'm just so proud of the guys and our toughness today," said Gaston College head coach David "Dickey" Nutt, whose team improved to 15-9 overall and 6-5 in Region 10. "Locked in and total focus with preparations this week were key in our victory."

The Rhinos' DaMarco Watson tallied 18 second-half points as Gaston College rallied from as much as a 10-point deficit. Kalil Camara also sparked the second half comeback with four 3-pointers.

Watson's two free throws with 13.2 seconds left proved decisive after Gaston College got a stop on the Dolphins and 6-foot-9 center Josiah Shackleford in the final seconds to preserve the victory.

Shackleford is a Florida Gulf Coast commitment and a key player of the defending Region 10 champions that was at the top of the Region 10 standings before Wednesday's loss.

"DaMarco Watson had such confidence to step up and nail two free throws with 13.2 seconds to go," Nutt said. "And then we made one big stop.
"Brunswick has arguably the best big man in juco basketball (in Shackleford) and those guys have been playing together for three years. This was a quality win for our program. It was just a total team win on the road. Kalil Camara hit big shot after big shot, and Joshua Johnson showed such incredible toughness along with Zavion (Jackson) and Jaylen (Bates)."

Watson finished with 23 points and four assists, Camara had 17 points and six rebounds and Bates had 11 points and eight rebounds and Jackson four points and eight rebounds.

Gaston College visits Denmark Tech on Saturday at 4 p.m. and USC Salkehatchie on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before closing its regular season with home games against Caldwell Tech (Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. at North Gaston High School) and Hosanna Bible College (Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at South Point High School).