Gaston College suffers heartbreaking defeat in Region 10 road game

For the second straight game, Gaston College's basketball team went on the road against a team that had a perfect home record.

On Wednesday, the Rhinos needed overtime to win 125-119 at USC Salkehatchie - and end that school's run for an unbeaten home ledger.

On Saturday afternoon at Region 10-leading Brunswick Community College, Gaston College was at it again with a team that entered with a spotless 13-0 home mark.

This time, the host Dolphins came away with a game-winning bucket with 2.9 seconds left to take a hard-earned 80-79 victory.

"I feel really good about how we're playing," Rhinos coach Benny Moss said. "We went on the road Wednesday and Saturday and played two really good teams. We were able to come away with a win on Wednesday and today was just a really good college game. It came down to the wire and they scored with two seconds left to beat us by one."

Gaston College fell to 20-8 overall and 6-7 in Region 10 Division I play with its regular season finale next on the schedule on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Caldwell Tech at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School. Then the Rhinos play in the Region 10 tournament March 13 through 15 that sends its winner to the National Junior College Athletic Association championship tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.

"This is like a region tournament game," Moss said of Wednesday's game. "We're still trying to get better one possession at a time. So we have one more regular season game and a week of practice to get ready for the region tournament."

Saturday's loss was a contest that saw 13 lead changes, two ties and neither team leading the other by more than nine points.

Sophomore Tyheim Love (20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), freshman Ryan Evans (15 points), sophomore Judah Ravenell (11 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) and Jordan Brown (10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) led the Rhinos.

"Injuries have forced us to adjust and make some changes but the rotation is getting better and we're playing much better at the time of the season where we want to be playing our best," Moss said.