Gaston College snaps losing streak with Region 10 home win on Sunday

Mired in a three-game losing streak, Gaston College grinded out a 75-67 Sunday afternoon Region 10 victory over Denmark Tech at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School gymnasium.

"When you're in a losing streak, the main objective is to just get into the win column," said Gaston College coach Jamie Rosser, whose team improved to 13-7 overall and 3-4 in Region 10.

Dee Merriweather (19 points), Asil Hoyle (15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), DaMarco Watson (12 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists), Jordan Guthrie (10 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists), Yarayah Evans (6 points, 5 rebounds) and Caleb McCarty (6 points, 3 assists, 3 blocked shots) led a balanced Rhinos attack.

Gaston College trailed only briefly before using a 21-11 surge to take a 25-18 lead with 7:45 left in the opening half. The Rhinos once led by 10 points before taking a 40-32 lead at the break.

In the second half, Gaston College would build as much as a 17-point lead at 53-36 with 13:29 to play before the visiting Panthers (10-14, 1-7) made a late rally to get as close as 71-65 with 47 seconds left.

Merriweather made four of five throws in the final 19.8 seconds to ensure the victory.

"I think we did a better job of putting two halves together today and had a total team effort," said Rosser, whose team scored 40 points in the first half and 35 in the second half.

Watson directed the offensive attack with the help of fellow ballhandlers Hoyle, Guthrie and Merriweather.

"I've said it many times before that if DaMarco is leading us right, we have a chance to be successful and that allows us a better opportunity of winning at a high level," Rosser said. "I put a lot of pressure on my point guards year in and year out. When that position is right, we're right."

The Rhinos plays again at Richard Bland on Wednesday at 7 p.m. It's Gaston College's fifth Region 10 road game out of six games and leaves the Rhinos with one remaining league road game and three home games.

Gaston College's next home game is Saturday at 3 p.m. at Ashbrook against Hosanna Bible College; 30 minutes prior to the game, the Rhinos will honor its seven sophomores - Watson, McCarty, Merriweather, Guthrie, Joshua Johnson, Dedrick Givens, and Kirk Scoggins on "Sophomore Day."