Gaston College drops final Region 10 road game of the season

Gaston College ran into a hot shooting Brunswick Community College on Thursday night in an 89-66 loss in the Rhinos' final Region 10 road game of the year.

The loss dropped Gaston College to 16-10 overall and 4-7 in Region 10 entering its league finale on Thursday against regular season champion Caldwell Tech (21-4, 9-2) at 7 p.m. at the Ashbrook High gymnasium.

"One thing that we want to have is discipline in our program," Rhinos coach Jamie Rosser said. "We all want to make sure we do things the right way and tonight we wanted to reward the guys that do things right."

Using a handful of freshman players that haven't been in the recent rotation, Gaston College took an early lead before Jahnarious Snell came off the Brunswick Community College bench to score a game-high 28 points, including 26 in the first half, to lead the Dolphins.

Snell's offense featured seven 3-pointers and spurred Brunswick to 16 straight points after the Rhinos were ahead 8-5 two minutes into the contest.

Dee Merriweather (15 points, 2 assists), Tyree Bracey (14 points, 4 rebounds), Jamal Ukaegbu (11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals), Michael Smith (9 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals) and Ajaden Gray (8 points, 13 rebounds) led a balanced Gaston College attack.

"Tonight we wanted to send a message that we have a program where you're going to do right," Rosser said. "We were pleased with our young guys that don't usually play a lot, especially with their effort and their attitude."

The loss means the highest seed Gaston College can get in next week's Region 10 tournament at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington is fourth.

"I think we're just fine," Rosser said. "We have a lot of basketball left in our eyes. We are staying optimistic and positive. We just want to make sure that we're leading these young men in the right direction."