Second half rally, defensive stop helps Gaston College to Region 10 victory

Facing an eight-point deficit with 9 1/2 minutes left in its home game against the deliberate style of offense that Richard Bland College plays wasn't exactly a recipe for success for Gaston College on Saturday afternoon.

But Rhinos coach Benny Moss said a strategy that was simplistic became effective in leading his team to a come-from-behind 63-62 victory at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School gymnasium.

"We really dug in on defense and we had the mentality of getting one stop at a time," said Moss, whose team improved to 19-3 overall and 4-2 in Region 10 play. "And offensively, if we were able to get it in the paint, we usually scored and did some of that down the stretch to get the win."

Four straight E.J. Joyner free throws in the final 22.3 seconds were decisive before a defensive gem - Kush Carter's steal with 1.6 seconds left - clinched the Gaston College victory.

"It was a good hard-fought win and we got defensive stops when we needed to in the second half," Moss said.

Carter's late defensive play came against the top scorer in Region 10, the Statesmen's Andy Ramirez.

A 6-foot-5, 175-pound sophomore guard from Santo Domingo of the Dominican Republic, Ramirez entered the contest with a 19.1 scoring average. He heated up in the second half as Richard Bland built a 53-45 lead with 9:29 to play.

And with starter J.R. Watson saddled with foul trouble, Moss turned to sophomore Carter to try and contain Ramirez down the stretch. While Ramirez finished with a game-high 22 points - including 15 in the second half - the Statesmen's determination to get him the basketball paid dividends for Carter after Joyner's last two free throws with 4.1 seconds left.

Carter overplayed Ramirez and came away with a steal to close out the victory.

"J.R. did a good job guarding him (Ramirez) in the first half, but when he got his third and fourth fouls in the second half, we just needed more size on him," Moss said. "Kush did a heckuva job on him - and that's a credit to Kush for being ready."

Kaleb Siler (19 points, 14 rebounds) and Joyner (14 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) led a balanced Rhinos' offensive attack.

Gaston College returns to action on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Ashbrook against Denmark Tech.