Gaston College's Caleb McCarty shoots a jumper in a 110-71 win at Belmont Abbey College's Wheeler Center against the Crusaders' Developmental Team on Nov. 14, 2022.

Posted: Jan 05, 2023

Gaston College resumes basketball season with two non-conference games before Region 10 play begins

After closing the first half of the season with a 7-3 record, Gaston College's basketball team returns to action for the first time in the new year with two home games in the next few days before it starts its 12-game Region 10 schedule.

The Rhinos will host Gaddis Watts Prep Academy on Sunday at 3 p.m. and Double Exposure Hoops Academy on Wednesday at 6 p.m. before the Region 10 slate begins on January 15 with a 2 p.m. home game against Brunswick Community College. All home games this season are at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.

"We had a really good practice today and got some things done," Gaston College head coach Jamie Rosser said on Wednesday after his team's first second-semester practice session. "It's always hard to have a break, but most of our guys came in and were ready to play."

The Rhinos opened their 2022-23 regular season against Gaddis Watts Prep Academy in a 125-75 victory on November 2. It'll be their first meeting with Double Exposure Hoops since last season when the team was called Lakeside Prep.

So far this season, sophomore DaMarco Watson (11.4 scoring average), freshman Asil Hoyle (11.2), sophomore Caleb McCarty (10.8), sophomore Jordan Guthrie (9.1), sophomore Joshua Johnson (8.6), freshman Jamal Ukaegbu (7.7), freshman Michael Smith (7.7), sophomore Dedrick Givens (7.5), sophomore Dee Merriweather (6.5) and freshman Yarayah Evans (5.3) have been the top scorers of a balanced offense.

Ukaegbu (6.0 average), McCarty (5.9), Watson (5.4) and Givens (4.8) are the top rebounders, Watson (5.3), Hoyle (3.0) and Guthrie (2.3) lead in assists, Smith (1.7), Ukaegbu (1.3) and Watson (1.1) are tops in steals and McCarty (2.8) and Johnson (1.0) are leading in blocked shots.

Rosser believes McCarty and Watson are players who can give his team the boost it needs to have a good second half of the season.

"For us to be really good and get into the postseason, Caleb McCarty needs to be successful," Rosser said. "He's capable of being a double-double guy as far as points and rebounds every game. We want him to score more, rebound more and block shots. And I think DaMarco can be the 'X' factor of the team. He's our toughest guy, he's probably clocked more minutes than anyone in his career and he's more game ready than anyone. He definitely can give us what we need to make our season as special as we want it to be."

After the two non-league games, Gaston College closes its regular season with 12 Region 10 contests out of its final 16 games.

Richard Bland of South Prince George, Virginia, is off to a 2-0 start in Region 10 play with December victories over Denmark Tech and Cape Fear Community College. Region 10 games resume on Saturday with two contests - Richard Bland hosts defending league champion Caldwell Tech and Brunswick Community College visits Denmark Tech.

Entering the weekend, Gaston College's 7-3 overall record was second only to Caldwell Tech (12-2) in overall play among Region 10's seven teams. "We definitely are taking these next two games extremely serious since they can get us ready for region play," Rosser said of the upcoming Gaddis Watts Prep and Double Exposure Hoops games.