Gaston College sets records in huge home win on Wednesday night

Gaston College basketball coach Benny Moss wanted his team to shake off the cobwebs of a 23-day layoff when it returned to action in the second semester earlier this week.

It took a couple of days, but did they ever respond to that challenge on Wednesday.

Two days after losing their first game of the year against perennial power Davidson-Davie Community College, the Rhinos roared back with a record-breaking vengeance in a 156-62 victory over the Montreat College junior varsity at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.

Gaston College had its first game in history with nine double-figure scorers and first game in history with four players recording double-doubles.

The 156 points was just 18 shy of a school record set against the same school in December 1969 - and also is the second-highest single game scoring total in Gaston College history.

"What we wanted coming out of the Christmas break was to get a lot of guys a lot of repetitions," Moss said. "This is what we wanted.

"Now, practice - and getting better - is where's it at. Even tonight, we need to stay locked in one possession at a time defensively. Once we got the score to where we wanted it, we took some breaks on defense. But, from an offensive standpoint, it was good to see the shots go back in because we didn't shoot the ball particularly well on Monday night."

After missing 40 of its 63 shots in Monday's 85-72 loss, the Rhinos made a sizzling 66.0 percent of their 106 attempts with incredible balance.

Kaleb Siler (22 points, 12 rebounds), DeAngelo Canty (20 points, 11 rebounds), Jozohn Price (20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals), Ian Howard (15 points, 3 rebounds), Spencer Breeden (15 points), E.J. Joyner (13 points, 6 assists, 3 steals), Ben Stevens (12 points, 4 rebounds), Tony Goodman (10 points, 3 rebounds, 11 assists) and Mike Reaves (10 points, 4 rebounds) were the double-figure scorers.

And Siler, Canty, Price and Goodman recorded double-doubles on a night in which all 12 players who saw action broke into the scoring column.

"It was good to get everybody in there and see everybody scoring," Moss said. "So it was a good night."

Gaston College scored the game's first 18 points and were ahead by 30 with 8 1/2 minutes to go in an opening half that closed with a 73-30 advantage. The Rhinos tallied 83 points in the second half and led by 97 points before a buzzer-beating Montreat 3-pointer gave completed the 94-point win that is the second-largest margin of victory in school history.

Gaston College closes the three-game homestand on Saturday at 2 p.m. against the Converse University developmental team at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.