Gaston College celebrates "Sophomore Day" with a double overtime victory

Gaston College's basketball team celebrated 2025 "Sophomore Day" with an 84-75 double-overtime victory over Richard Bland on Saturday afternoon at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.

In a pregame ceremony, sophomores Jordan Brown, Tyheim Love and Judah Ravenell were honored for their contributions to the program.

In the game, the Rhinos trailed by as many as five points in the first half and were behind 57-52 with 2:09 left in regulation before rallying to force overtime.

In the first overtime, Richard Bland hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to force a second overtime.

And in the second overtime, Gaston College went on a 9-1 surge to snap a 70-all tie and cruised to a victory that improved the Rhinos to 19-6 overall and 5-5 in the Region 10 Division I race.

"We had to go a little longer than we wanted," Rhinos coach Benny Moss said. "We didn't close out the first half the way we wanted and at the end of the first overtime, we made mistakes that probably got us into a second overtime.
"But I'm happy for those three sophomores. They've all made a big impact on our program."

Love had his second straight career-high scoring effort with 32 points and also had five rebounds.

Ravenell (17 points, 7 rebounds), freshman Ryan Evans (11 points, 6 rebounds), freshman E.J. Joyner (10 points), Brown (5 points, 6 assists), freshman Spencer Breeden (5 points) and freshman Kyhree McAlister (4 points, 4 rebounds, 4 blocks) were other standout performers for Gaston College.

"Jordan didn't have his best game statistically but he led the team and Ty and Judah had really impressive 'Sophomore Day' performances," Moss said.

The double overtime contest tied for longest in school history is only the sixth overtime game in history. The school's other double overtime game came in a 97-95 win at USC Salkehatchie on Feb. 22, 2022.

The Rhinos remain at home for their next game at 8 p.m. Monday night against Region 10 rival Wake Tech. The contest was originally scheduled for last Wednesday but was postponed due to inclement weather.

"We've just got to keep rolling and get better," Moss said.