Rhinos win season opener

Gaston College made its first basketball game in 50 years a winning success with a strong second-half comeback in front of a capacity crowd at Charlotte's Johnson and Wales University.

The Rhinos took a 79-72 victory by outscoring the host Wildcats 20-12 in the final 10:49 of the contest.

All nine players who played for Gaston College scored points, led by Kalil Camara's 15, Jaylen Bates' 13, Damon Davis' 12 and Dedrick Givens' 10. Davis also had 10 rebounds for a double-double. Dee Merriweather added nine points, with six of them in the final 1:31 to keep the Rhinos comfortably ahead down the stretch.

The key for head coach David "Dickey" Nutt's team was a second-half defensive effort after Johnson and Wales converted eight of 15 first-half 3-pointers for a 44-43 lead at the break. The Wildcats missed 13 of their 16 3-pointers in the second half.

"Our whole game plan in the second half was to defend because they're a really good shooting team as evidenced by them making 13 3-pointers in their first game," Nutt said of Johnson and Wales, which made 13 of 37 3-pointers in Monday's season-opening 108-77 home win over Blue Lights College.

Gaston College's victory was their first since the college's 85-65 victory over Lenoir Community College in the third-place game of the old N.C. Community College Conference on Feb. 26, 1972 at Kinston's old Grainger High School. 

"I'm really proud of this team," Nutt said ."We haven't had a lot of time together since we just started. We grew up tonight in a lot of ways. Our defense was key going down the stretch."