Gaston College basketball's 2025-26 season one of greatest in school, Region 10 history

After a season that ended one win shy of its season-long goal, the Gaston College basketball program now gets a chance to reflect on one of the best seasons in school and Region 10 history.

The Rhinos finished 28-4 after losing to Brunswick Community College in the 2026 Region 10 championship game at Richard Bland's Statesmen Hall on March 14.

The season means second-year head coach Benny Moss has set a high standard for future teams.

Gaston College had its second-highest win total - 29 in the 1969-70 season is the record - and is one of just 33 teams in the 97-year history of Region 10 basketball to finish with 28 or more victories.

With Brunswick Community College also finishing with 28 victories, it marked only the third time two teams have reached 28 or more victories in the same season in Region 10 history; The 1970-71 and 1974-75 seasons were the others.

"Obviously, anytime you go 28-4 and win a regular season championship, it's a positive," Moss said. "We just came up one game short of our goal, which was to make it to Hutchinson (Kansas) for the chance to play for a national championship."

Gaston College's advance to the Region 10 championship game was its second in school history - and first since 1971.

To get that far took several record-setting team and individual efforts.

The Rhinos became the first team in school history with two winning streaks of 10 or more games; Gaston College started the season 13-0 and won 11 straight games before losing in the Region 10 title contest.

The high-scoring squad averaged 94.8 points per game and had the second-most 100-point games in school history with 13 while claiming the school's fourth conference regular season title - and first outright regular season league crown in history.

School history was made during a 104-89 "Sophomore Day" victory over No. 20-ranked Brunswick Communmity College on March 1 as it marked the Rhinos' first win over a nationally-ranked team after 11 previous losses dating to a 1969 game against a Gardner-Webb team featuring future Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore.

Individually, sophomores Kaleb Siler, E.J. Joyner and Ryan Evans were named All-Region 10 with Siler becoming the school's first Region 10 player of the year after averaging 19.5 points and 9.9 rebounds in 14 league games. Siler finished the season with 17 double-doubles for points and rebounds, which is the highest since the school restarted athletics in the 2021-22 school year and second all-time.

Joyner's 40-point game, which came in a regular season title-clinching victory at Caldwell Tech was the most since the school restarted athletics and tied for seventh all-time.

"Having three all-region players shows that if you get talented players who buy in to the team concept, good things can happen," Moss said. "And we had good players this year on this team.
"Kaleb is going to sign Division I. E.J. is going to sign Division I. His 40 points in a game is pretty impressive no matter who you are playing. And it was one of the better teams in the league in Caldwell Tech.
"For Kaleb to get the double-doubles he got is certainly a tribute to him but also a tribute to the team buying into the system and getting him the ball when he needed to.
"Ryan has meant so much to this program for two years, both from a character standpoint and a work ethic standpoint. He set the tone for what we are as a program."

Jozohn Price has already committed to North Carolina Central and DeAngelo Canty to Johnson C. Smith and Evans, Siler, Joyner and fellow sophomores J.R. Watson, Spencer Breeden and Kush Carter all are expected to play for four-year schools.

"To win 50 games in two years is a pretty good accomplishment," said Moss, whose two-year win total marks only the third time in school history Gaston College has won 50 or more games in a two-year period. "Now we get to see where these guys are going to sign scholarships because that's the other side of it.
"Winning championships and getting guys to the next level are the goals of our program."

Another key to success this year was the Rhinos' "home court" advantage at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.

Gaston College went 12-1 at the high school gymnasium with many of its games played in front of vocal crowds.

"Part of it is recruiting since we've brought in Charlotte kids, Gastonia kids and lots kids from this area," Moss said. "That brings families and high school teammates.
"But the biggest thing is to win. Winning draws fans too.
"I think we also had really good community and local support and then there was great campus support. We had administrators, teachers, student-athletes and students coming to the games on a regular basis."

Losing 10 sophomores off this year's team will make rebuilding the program a challenge.

But Moss is confident the departing group built a culture that is sustainable.

"We've set a standard that you have to have to be a championship program," Moss said. "You work your butt off every single day, get better one day at a time and don't take days off."