Gaston College takes double overtime thriller at league-leading USC Salkehatchie

Gaston College had to work double overtime to do it but the Rhinos managed to pull off another Region 10 road victory on Tuesday night with a 97-95 win at league-leading USC Salkehatchie.

The victory closed out Gaston College's Region 10 road schedule with an impressive 5-2 record and improved the Rhinos to 16-10 overall and 7-6 in Region 10 this season.

"We played our hearts out for 50 minutes," Gaston College coach David 'Dickey' Nutt said. "We played so well defensively for 50 minutes. Foul trouble was an issue going into the second overtime with Jaylen (Bates) and Zavion (Jackson) both out with five fouls.
"Dedrick Givens gave us a big lift off the bench but you can't say enough about our guard play. DeMarco Watson, Damon Davis, Dee Merriweather and Kalil Camara all played really well. We had to really get down and guard against their very good shooters. I'm so proud of our toughness tonight."

Davis scored 26 points, Bates 16, Watson 15 and Camara and Jackson 10 each to lead Gaston College's offense.

"We knew that we didn't play so well at Denmark Tech (in a 67-60 road loss last Saturday) and was really pleased with the focus and desire they had to make that performance up," Nutt said. "We knew that USC Salkehatchie was having a really good year and this would be a very difficult place to play.
"The message was that there is only one way to victory at USC Salkehatchie and that was going to be an all out defensive battle and a really strong cohesive unit - a real family. This may be the biggest win for us this year. I'm really proud of our guys."

The Rhinos close out their Region 10 schedule at 7 p.m. on Thursday night against Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute at North Gaston High School and close out their regular season at 7 p.m. on Monday night against Hosanna Bible College at South Point High School.