Gaston College advances to Saturday's 1 p.m. Region 10 championship game

For the second time in school history Gaston College is in the Region 10 basketball tournament championship game.

The Rhinos advanced to their first appearance since 1971 in Friday's convincing 84-72 win over host Richard Bland in the semifinals.

The regular season champions, Gaston College had gotten a bye into Friday's semifinal and will meet perennial power Brunswick Community College on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Richard Bland for the 2026 Region 10 championship - and berth in the March 21-28 National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament at Hutchinson, Kansas.

"We're very happy to be in the final," said Rhinos coach Benny Moss, whose team improved to 28-3 and is the first in school history with two winning streaks of 10 of more games. "It's win or go home now. But our mentality has been 'one game at a time' all year long. We've got one more game to reach our goal of getting to the national championship tournament."

Gaston College lost to host Ferrum 85-81 in the 1971 Region 10 title game.

Ferrum, now a four-year college, won eight region titles from 1965 to 1985; Three other current four-year schools - Spartanburg Methodist (10), North Greenville (9) and Anderson (9) and Ferrum (8) are the all-time Region 10 championship-winners.

In Brunswick (27-5), the Rhinos face another perennial power as the Dolphins have won four region titles including two of the last five.

To advance to Saturday's title game, Gaston College increased their winning streak to 11 games with strong defense and 3-point sharpshooting in a first half that saw the Rhinos take the lead for good just two minutes into the contest.

"Our attention to detail on defense was really good in the first half," Moss said. "And on offense, we're playing the right way, whether it's by passing or by dribbling. We've got a lot of unselfish guys who making the right reads and finding the open man for the best shot."

Sophomores Kaleb Siler (25 points, 16 rebounds), E.J. Joyner (12 points, 3 assists), Ryan Evans (11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocked shots) and Jozohn Price (3 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists) and freshmen Tony Goodman (11 points, 7 assists) and Tin Tikvesa (10 points, 7 rebounds) led the balanced attack.

"It's a good feeling to be in a championship game," said Moss, in his second year as head coach. "Since I got here, our goal has been to win championships and we've gotten great support - from our president Dr. John Hauser to our vice president Todd Baney and to our athletic director Shohn Doty."