Tough shooting day dooms Gaston College in Region 10 loss

An uncharacteristically poor long-range shooting performance kept Gaston College's basketball team from ending one of the area's longest home winning streaks.

The Rhinos missed 20 of their 21 3-point tries in a 68-63 loss at defending Region 10 champion Brunswick Community College on Saturday afternoon.

The loss dropped the Rhinos to 16-2 overall and 1-1 in Region 10 as the host Dolphins (15-3, 1-1) won their 29th straight game on the gym floor named for their longtime (and current) coach Walter Shaw.

Gaston College scored the game's first four points, rallied from a 10-point deficit to close within 35-33 at the half.

In the second half, the Rhinos led 54-50 with 7:13 to play before shooting struggles doomed them down the stretch.

Gaston College shot 31.7 percent overall (4.8 percent on 3-pointers) and 64.7 percent on free throws. Both field goal percentages were season-lows and the free throw percentage was fourth-worst of the year.

"When you go on the road against a really good team and you go one for 21 from three and I had us missing 10 power shots for layups and shoot 64 percent at the line, it's going to be a challenge," Gaston College coach Benny Moss said.

Sophomore Kaleb Siler led Gaston College with his 11th double-double of the year (24 points, 12 rebounds). He was the Rhinos' lone double figure scorer.

Gaston College continues its 14-game Region 10 league slate with its region home opener against Caldwell Tech on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.

"Right now, they're the only undefeated team in the region," Moss said of the Cobras (16-2, 3-0). "They're coming in and they're in first place and they've already won two road games.
"They've got a leg up on everybody and we have to take care of homecourt."