Gaston College closes regular season with a road victory

Gaston College closed out its regular season with a 69-61 victory at Lincolnton's Combine Academy on Saturday afternoon.

The Rhinos (17-11) next play as the No. 5 seed in next week's Region 10 tournament at Cape Fear Community College.

In Saturday's finale, the Rhinos got their usual offensive balance and relied more on their inside game than 3-point shooting; Gaston College had 24 2-pointers and three 3-pointers.

"We did what we set out to do and that's get the win," Gaston College coach Jamie Rosser said. "This is a good stepping stone for next week at the tournament.
"We showed improvement. We got the ball inside. We boxed out. We still have to do a better job of taking care of the ball and playing defense, but I'm pleased with our effort."

After trailing 19-10 with 9:01 left in the first half, the Rhinos closed the opening half on a 21-12 surge to tie the score at 31 at the break. Then Gaston College scored the first six points on the second half and never trailed.

Jamal Ukaegbu (19 points, 7 rebounds), Tyree Bracey (13 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists), Michael Smith (10 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals), DaMarco Watson (9 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals) and Yarayah Evans (7 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists) led the Rhinos.

Rosser was pleased with the Gaston College victory that completed a seasonal sweep of Combine Academy, a college prep school that regularly produces college players.

"This is a big time program," Rosser said of the program coached by Steve Jecewicz. "All of these guys are going to school somewhere. I take my hat off to Combine and what they're doing."

The Rhinos, who went 4-8 in region game, play the opening game of the Region 10 tournament on Thursday at 2 p.m. against host and No. 4 seed Cape Fear Community College (12-13, 6-6). That winner advances to play regular season champion and No. 1 Caldwell Tech (22-4, 10-2) on Friday at 2 p.m.Thursday's other first round pairings are No. 2 Brunswick Community (17-12, 8-4) against No. 7 Denmark Tech (12-16, 3-9) at 4 p.m. and No. 3 Spartanburg Methodist (20-10, 7-5) against No. 6 Richard Bland (12-17, 4-8) at 6 p.m.

The tournament championship game is March 11 at 1 p.m. with the winner advancing to the National Junior College Athletic Association championships in Hutchinson, Kansas.