Gaston College drops another nailbiting Region 10 game

In a league where close games are the norm, Gaston College came out on the short end of another nailbiter on Saturday at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.

Richard Bland rallied from an 8-point deficit early in the second half to defeat the Rhinos 64-62.

The loss dropped Gaston College to 16-9 overall and 4-6 in Region 10. And in a conference where 25 of the 38 league games have been decided by 10 or less points, the Rhinos are now 2-5 in those type of contests.

"All these games are tough," Gaston College coach Jamie Rosser said. "In almost all of these region games, everybody's within a few points of each other. The guys who are going to win the tough games are going to be the most focused, disciplined, dedicated and unselfish; and they will ultimately become champions. So, if you don't have some toughness, you won't be successful."

Caldwell Tech, which has already clinched the regular season title with a 9-2 mark, is 6-0 in Region 10 games decided by 10 or less points. Second-place Spartanburg Methodist (7-4) is second-best with a 6-4 mark in those close shaves.

In Saturday's loss, the Rhinos actually outrebounded the visiting Statesmen (12-16, 4-7) by a 37-29 overall margin. But Richard Bland corralled 13 offensive rebounds. Three of those second-chance opportunities turned into six critical points in the final 15 minutes of Saturday's game.

"We couldn't get stops down the stretch and we couldn't get 50-50 balls," Rosser said. "Those offensive rebounds are killing our momentum and they're almost killing our season."

Gaston College built a 27-24 halftime lead and its 35-27 lead with 16:54 to play behind three 3-pointers from Jordan Guthrie. But they were the only 3-pointers of the game for the Rhinos.

Guthrie (20 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals), DaMarco Watson (10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists), Joshua Johnson (10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists), Yarayah Evans (7 points, 7 rebounds) and Michael Smith (7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocked shots) led Gaston College.

The Rhinos close out their regular season this week with road games on Tuesday (at Brunswick Community College at 6 p.m.) and Saturday (at Lincolnton's Combine Academy at 3 p.m.) and their home finale against Caldwell Tech on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Ashbrook.

"It's closing in on March," Rosser said. "We've got to be ready to go. We want to finish the season strong and compete at a high level in the tournament."

Gaston College competes in the Region 10 tournament hosted by Cape Fear Community College from March 9 to 11.