The players speak: Wrapping up the 2021-22 Gaston College basketball season

From being brought together by word of mouth, zoom calls and, eventually, tryout practice sessions, Gaston College's first basketball team in 50 years finished its restart with an 18-10 overall record, an 8-6 Region 10 record that was one game out of first place and lots of memories.

"Nobody believed in us or thought we could do well this season," Rhinos sophomore Kalil Camara said. "The coaches recruited guys from all over the country and once they got guys who knew who to play, things came into place."

Head coach David "Dickey" Nutt and associate head coach Jamie Rosser had a long history together and they relied on recruiting contacts to reach out to the potential players that would make up the historic roster.

The only catch was that their recruiting, long done by personal scouting and interaction with potential players, had to be done by zoom calls due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Honestly, it was very strange," Gaston College sophomore Jaylen Bates said. "But the zoom meetings that we had, all of the guys were determined to come together and get a common goal done. Also we shared information on social media and were checking in on each other.
"And we really didn't know how much talent we had."

Once Nutt got the team placed in Division I of the National Junior College Athletic Association's Region 10 - the highest level possible - a 14-game league slate and 14 more non-conference games were scheduled with the Rhinos using four local high school gymnasiums for their homecourts; Gaston College played home games at Gastonia's Piedmont Community Charter School, Dallas' North Gaston High School, Lowell's Gaston Christian School and Belmont's South Point High School.

The team would hold its practices at the gymnasium of Gastonia's First United Methodist Church.

The players, some of whom had come from structured and established programs, were a little unsettled by not having a regular homecourt though they did understand it was a first-year program.

"I didn't expect it to be this disorganized," Sophomore Zavion Jackson said. "It was interesting. I'm not blaming Gaston College because I'm sure this is going to get better each year."

Those unique circumstances may have played a role in the team's homecourt record.

While the Rhinos were a Region 10-best 5-2 in road league games, they had a losing record (3-4) in home league games. By year's end, Gaston College went 11-4 overall in home games and 7-6 in road games; The Rhinos went 5-4 at North Gaston and 2-0 each at their other three "home" venues of Piedmont Community Charter, Gaston Christian and South Point.

Maybe because of the ever-changing homecourt - even as fan support was pretty solid in each of the four gymnasiums - the team developed a mental toughness that served it well on the road.

It's probably why the players' favorite wins were mostly road games.

The most popular choice among the players was a 97-95 double-overtime win at USC Salkehatchie when that school was in first place of Region 10.

"We all fought and came together while our bodies were hurting and cramping," sophomore Damon Davis said of the victory. "We pulled through as a team to beat them."

Added freshman Jared Funderburk: "We were on the road and they were the No. 1 seed in our conference at the time. And we had to pull together and we did. It showed our togetherness as a team. There was a lot of adversity there and we only had each other but we worked and came out of there with a big win."

Other favorite wins of the players included the 78-75 win at Cape Fear Community College on Dec. 5 in the Rhinos' Region 10 opener, a 66-65 victory at defending Region 10 champion Brunswick Community College on Feb. 5 that started a season-ending stretch of six wins in seven games and an 89-87 home win over Caldwell Tech on Feb. 24 that clinched a winning region record.

However, the most popular "favorite memory" of the players was simply spending time with one another while travelling to road games.

That started with the season's longest road trip - a Nov. 19-20 swing through Florida when Gaston College played games at Tallahassee Community College and nationally-ranked Northwest Florida College.

"When we went to Florida, we bonded together and learned each other," freshman Dedrick Givens said. "We really never quite had spent much time together until then. The coach had us all get together in a room and talk to each other."

Added freshman DaMarco Watson: "My favorite moment this year is more about our bond off the court. That's been the best moments to be honest. We gained a lot out of every trip we had, whether it was learning each other, learning different areas around the country or simply studying."

The players says their shared bond as well as their place in Gaston College history should create lifelong friendships.

"There's no question that's true," Jackson said. "Going through this together is going to create a family bond."