Rhinos drop Region 10 regular season finale to league champion

A veteran conference championship team was too much for Gaston College on Thursday night as the Rhinos concluded their Region 10 regular season in a 92-70 loss at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.

The visiting Cobras (22-4, 10-2), who received votes in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll earlier this season, responded to Gaston College's opening burst with strong offensive surges in each half as the Rhinos dropped to 16-11 and 4-8.

"There's a reason they're the best team in the league," Gaston College coach Jamie Rosser said. "It's because they have extreme endurance. When you're the top seed in the conference, it's because you have guys who understand winning. They do whatever it takes to win. If it means the best player, makes the extra pass, that's what they do. They're playing winning basketball right now.
"We put up a good fight tonight, but we have to be ready on Saturday to play a really good Combine team."

The Rhinos close their regular season on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Combine Academy in Lincolnton before playing in their first Region 10 conference tournament next week at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington.

In Thursday's league finale, Gaston College took a 12-6 lead four minutes in the game and were tied until the 9:42 mark of the opening half.

But Caldwell Tech went on a 31-13 burst to close the first half with a 46-32 advantage. And after the Rhinos scored on their first three possessions of the second half, the Cobras went on a 22-5 tear to take a 70-43 lead with 11:57 to play.

"We are really missing (post players) Caleb McCarty and Dedrick Givens. What Dedrick gives us is toughness. That's what we're missing. We're fighting, but we really miss his toughness. And we're missing Caleb's ability to score around the basket and affect shots."

McCarty has a sore ankle and Achilles, and Givens has a sore back.

Dee Merriweather (18 points), Yarayah Evans (12 points, 12 rebounds), DaMarco Watson (12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists), Joshua Johnson (10 points), Tyree Bracey (9 points) and Jamal Ukaegbu (5 points, 4 assists) led Gaston College in Thursday night's game.