Gaston College wins on the road for 9th straight victory

Gaston College's basketball team picked up its ninth straight victory of the season on Wednesday night in an 89-67 victory over the Pfeiffer University junior varsity team at Pfeiffer's Merner Gym.

The Rhinos improved to 9-1 and haven't lost since an 89-83 defeat at No. 1-ranked Davidson-Davie Community College in their season opener on Nov. 2.

Gaston College trailed for less than a minute early in the contest and kept pulling away from the host Falcons (2-2) throughout the contest. The Rhinos led 40-35 at halftime and eventually took a 22-point victory by closing the game on a 12-5 surge.

"Obviously a win on the road is good at any time," first-year Gaston College head coach Benny Moss said. "I didn't think we were crisp and our offense wasn't as good as it normally is because we didn't share the ball as much as we usually do and we didn't shoot the ball very well.
"But we defended well enough and rebounded well enough to come away with a pretty convincing win on the road."

Freshman Jozohn Price (13 points), sophomore Jordan Brown (12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), freshman Landon Sprouse (11 points), sophomore Tyheim Love (10 points), freshman E.J. Joyner (9 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists), sophomore Judah Ravenell (7 points, 5 rebounds), freshman Ryan Evans (7 points), freshman Kyhree McAlister (6 points, 5 rebounds), freshman Kayleb Coles (5 points, 5 rebounds) and freshman Spencer Breeden (5 points) led another balanced Gaston College attack.

"I thought Landon Sprouse gave us a spark off the bench with his defense and his toughness and he got rewarded by making some shots," Moss said of Sprouse, who had seven of his 11 points in a 53-second stretch in the first half. "And Kyhree also played really good off the bench. He defended, rebounded, ran the floor and finished around the basket."

The nine-game winning streak is the longest in the school's modern history since restarting athletics in the 2021-22 school year. Another victory in Sunday's next game at 1 p.m. at the Newberry JVs could give Gaston College its fourth 10-game winning streak in the school's all-time history.

Gaston College won a record 17 straight in the 1969-70 season, 14 straight in the 1971-72 season that was its last until 2021-22 and 10 straight in the 1966-67 season.

After Sunday's game, the Rhinos will close out the first semester with a Dec. 15 2 p.m. home game against Cleveland Community College at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School and a Dec. 18 game at 6 p.m. at Virginia Peninsula Community College.