On Dec. 10, the Knights basketball team took on Southern Maine Community College at home. It was their only home game in December.

The night started with the national anthem as usual, but some things were different than previous home games. Going into the game, NECC had a 9-4 record. They had become an exciting team to watch and people started to notice. The stands were more full than any home game so far this season.

Another thing that was different was that during the anthem, the Knights put their arms around each others’ backs and swayed back and forth together, a sign of togetherness and brotherhood.

Bryan Morales started the game for NECC by scoring a 3-pointer, and went on to score even more points that, by the end of the game, would total 25 — the team high for the night.

8 minutes and 30 seconds into the game, #10 on Southern Maine CC got hit in the nose by an elbow and took the rest of the first half off because of the injury.

At the end of the first half the score was 39-30, NECC leading.

The Knights led the whole game up until there was 10 minutes and 30 seconds left in the game when they finally got the lead and went up on NECC 57-56. The Knights went back and forth with the lead for the last 5 minutes up until NECC pulled off a beautiful breakaway-turned-into-a-layup play that all but sealed the game.

The Knights won 81-76.

The Knights leading scorers were Morales with 25 points, Dominic Dar with 19, and Jonathan Paulino with 13. NECC scored 11-16 free throw attempts.