Gaston College completes seasonal sweep of Region 10 rival

A strong second half burst led Gaston College to a 69-60 victory over Richard Bland on Monday night at South Point High School.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Rhinos (13-9, 4-5) and completed a Region 10 seasonal sweep of Richard Bland.

Gaston College led the entire contest but after the Statesmen closed to within 45-42 with 12:45 to play, the Rhinos responded to a coach David "Dickey" Nutt timeout and used a zone defense to spark an 18-4 surge over the next 6 1-2 minutes to clinch the victory.

"I was really proud of our guys tonight," Nutt said. "We played with much more intensity than we have been in terms of protecting the ball with less turnovers.
"Zavion Jackson was really good on the boards and just had an all around good game. His defense was outstanding rebounding and blocking shots. Jaylen Bates, DaMarco Watson and Damon Davis all played really well."

Bates (18 points, 7 rebounds), Damon Davis (17 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists), Jackson (13 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks), Watson (7 points, 5 rebounds), Joshua Johnson (6 points, 3 rebounds) and Dee Merriweather (5 points, 4 assists) led the Rhinos.

Davis had 10 points and Jackson eight in a first half that saw Gaston College take a 32-27 lead at the break. And Bates had 15 points in the second half to lead the Rhinos' closing surge.

"The adjustment of going to a zone proved to be the difference-maker," Nutt said. "Pleased with the overall defense tonight and as I always tell our guys, winning a game is very difficult and it's precious and never take it for granted. We will enjoy this one until midnight, then we will turn our attention to the next one."

Gaston College plays again on Sunday at 2 p.m. when it hosts Denmark Tech at North Gaston High School.