Gaston College drops road Region 10 game at Denmark Tech

Turnovers and poor shooting combined to derail Gaston College's hopes for another Region 10 road basketball victory on Saturday afternoon.

A 67-60 loss at Denmark Tech was the result after the Rhinos committed 20 turnovers and made 38.0 percent of their field goal attempts.

Gaston College 15-10 overall and 6-6 in Region 10 with 2 conference games to play.

"It's a mental toughness that we still are learning to master," said Gaston College coach David "Dickey" Nutt, whose team's 66-65 win at defending Region 10 champion Brunswick Community College in its previous game on Wednesday was the Rhinos' fourth league road victory this season. "It's the highs and lows of college basketball. Sometimes when you look at an opponent you think a certain way and you become nonchalant."

Gaston College led by three points late in the first half before Denmark Tech took a 25-23 lead at the break.

After Gaston College took a 36-35 lead early in the second half, the Panthers scored six straight points - and never trailed again.

Jared Funderburk (15 points), Damon Davis (13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists), Jaylen Bates (11 points, 6 rebounds), DaMarco Watson (10 points), Dee Merriweather (6 points) and Zavion Jackson (5 points, 10 rebounds) led a balanced attack for Gaston College, which closes its Region 10 schedule next week with a game at USC Salkehatchie on Tuesday and a home game on Thursday against Caldwell Tech at 7 p.m. at North Gaston High School.

"We will regroup and bounce back," Nutt said. "Our next two games are opponents at the top of the league so we need to regroup and be ready."