Gaston College closes out non-league schedule with 15-1 record

Gaston College's basketball team continued its high-scoring ways on Saturday with a 109-80 victory over the Converse University junior varsity team at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.

It was the Rhinos' seventh 100-point game and completed their non-league schedule with a 15-1 record.

Gaston College coach Benny Moss was pleased with the victory but said the team will have to show improvement once it begins National Junior College Athletic Association Region 10 Division I action this week.

"We've got some things to work on," Moss said. "We've got to play every possession like it's a championship possession. When we start getting that mentality, that's when we'll get better."

In Saturday's win, the visiting Valkyries scored first and led until midway through the first half as Gaston College finished the half on a 33-18 surge to take a 14-point lead (46-32) at intermission.

The Rhinos surged again in the second half, leading by 20 at the 14:34 mark and by 30 at the 5:40 mark before taking the 29-point win.

Kaleb Siler (19 points, 10 rebounds), Ian Howard (17 points), J.R. Watson (17 points, 5 assists), E.J. Joyner (16 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists) and Jozohn Price (9 points, 8 rebounds) led a balanced attack.

Gaston College closes the season with its 14-game league slate that starts this week with games at Denmark Tech on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and at Brunswick Community College on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Rhinos next home game is Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School against Caldwell Tech.

"Conference starts and every game is going to be a dogfight," Moss said. "If you look around, home teams have been winning and winning on the road has been difficult. So what you have to do is protect your homecourt and find a way to steal some games on the road.
"We've got our first two on the road and three of our first four on the road. So we've got to find a way to win those."