On Tuesday Feb. 8, NECC Knights defeated Springfield Technical Community College 75 to 58 to clinch a playoff spot it was a 6 p.m. tipoff at the Sport and Fitness Center in the Haverhill Campus. It was a makeup game from January 11.

Eight-nine fans turned out to see the game.

The Knights were looking to win their 10 straight on Tuesday night and clinched a playoff spot. After winning nine straight at Gateway Community College on the road 65 to 48 on Saturday February 5.

Kevin Monteiro did not have a minute restriction against Springfield Technical Community College, said Stratton.

“Kevin actually we were very fortunate off the bench against Gateway and he was a key to us defensively he picked up five or six offensive charges that were momentum changes for us and he continued to do that, Stratton said. He also mentioned “Kevin does a lot of the dirty work that doesn’t show up in the box score that I like about me. Every possession that he is competing every possession he is getting after it and he sacrifice his body more than anyone in this basketball team and we are very fortunate to have Kevin on this team,” he said.

I asked if the league canceled the game originally because of COVID concern? “I am not to sure I think everyone was battling with covid early that’s when it spike up right after Christmas everyone was coming down with it, everyone was juggling it, everyone was rescheduling games. This game just happened to be one of these games to be a reschedule which I am fine with I been in this league a long time and I know there is so much adversity, weather is academic, weather is covid weather is injuries. I always felt that I rather play their team at the best then at the worst. That’s the way I look at it and I hope a lot of coaches feels the same way about my self that giving the opportunity if we become withier is covid or not having enough player that they will be realistic and give us an opportunity to move the game as well,” Stratton said.

Stratton had a game plan strategy to control Jeremiah Barbosa he is a forward that lead Region 21 with 62.1 field goals percentage.

“We are doing a couple of things we are not going to do anything special or ordinary tonight, I really don’t have much film on Springfield Tech. The one thing that I do know is this is Springfield Tech’s third game in four nights, so we probably going to test their legs early on. We might pick up their point guard a little bit full court trying to see what they can do trying to ware them down. Every team we face it becomes unpredictable. I know the scouting report last game we had on Gateway, which there is playing everyone in the league was two three zone, man to man so I think coaches are trying to come up with something to try to throw us off a little bit and I told my kids the other night after Gateway that you have to expect everyone best game. Everyone is coming for you it is not a secret that these kids ripped of nine wins in a row… I think if we just concentrate in ourselves  and worry what we do everything gets care of itself,” he said.

Knights won the tipoff against Springfield. The Knights begin the game with 10-2 run.

Daniel Almarante of Lawrence had 4 points,  Phillip Cunningham of Haverhill had 4 and Metin Yavuz of Istanbul, Turkey had 2 points during that run. The Knights had Almarante also pick up a steal.

Cunningham he was on foul trouble early on picking up two fouls in a span of a minute to begin the game. “Losing Philip early to foul trouble really hurt us we are a different basketball team with Philip on the basketball court then what he is off the basketball court,”  Stratton said. “For some reason Phillip doesn’t give up play he just aggressive. He is one of the key members of this basketball team and as you saw tonight with Philip off the court we struggle a little bet more than what is on the court and it showed tonight so hopefully he can stay away of foul trouble and keep us going in the right direction,” Stratton said.

During the first period a NECC Mascot showed up  and stayed through out the game.

The Mascot was sitting down and interacted with fans. During half time he came and talk to me and was taking pictures. When the Knights comeback from the locker room into the court the Mascot was high five and giving fist bump to the Knights players.

The Knights was struggling in the middle of the first period Springfield was on a 15 to 3 run.

“Yeah I didn’t know what happened I think our defense kind of lack we weren’t sliding our feet we let them go by us and stuff and we end up figuring it out at the end and we were able to score, Matt D’Amato of Peabody  said. Then I told him how in the middle of the period they completely collapse for a few minutes “That is true we do that I think it is lack of focus just not focusing on defense not being were we supposed to be we attend to figure it out and the last 10 games we had so and we going to continue to do that,” he said.

D’amati just scored 2 points in 20 minutes.

The Knights were throwing the ball more than a few time out of bounds.

“Oh 100% our turnovers was attritions we talked about it at half time we made a lot of error passes that we shouldn’t made that we looked like our first semester basketball team like we really didn’t look like what we are doing what we were capable off I mean we just made some horrendous passes we made some horrendous decisions we talked about that at half-time…” Stratton said.

The Knights had six fouls and Springfield had eight during the first half. The Knights had 5 point lead versus Springfield the Knights were up 31 to 26.

The second period began with Metin Yavuz of Istanbul Turkey missing the first 2 free throw shot to open the second period.

It was a key turning point for the Knights when Springfield removed Chris Ortiz after he pick up his third or four foul during the game “We were forced to do stuff to take Ortiz away we were fall of denial on him and let someone else beat us we played defense behind him and I think them losing him early in the second half like in that eight minute it was only a five point game when they went to the bench he went to the bench we were in a 6-0 run increase that lead to 11 and know it’s a different basketball game you moved up to double digits…” Stratton said.

Knights had six fouls and Springfield had nine in the second half. Overall during the game the Knights had 12 fouls and Springfield had 17.

Coach Stratton told me that they left a lot of position and points in the table “we gave up a lot of position I think we left probably 20 to 30 points in the basketball court we missed layups, we turned the ball over, we hadn’t had any charges, we didn’t step in to the lane we were doing a lot of stuff that uncharacteristic of us and we need to improve. I am going to be honest with you like I told this guy it can be one and done in the tournament if we don’t improve like we want to play our best basketball heading into the tournament and this last couple of games have exposed us a little bit that we better start getting refocused and it has to start tomorrow at practice,” he said.

Almarante pass the ball to Asik who was in mid air and he just dunked you can see that dunk on NECC Knights Instagram page.

Asik who scored 25 points in 26 minutes with 16 rebounds and 6 assists talk to me how it feels to clinch a playoff spot “Thank you we actually feel really good because we earned and we been working hard and we going to continue working harder and we made the playoff right know… this is just the beginning, Asik said.

Knights will try to make it 11 straight on Thursday Feb. 10 when the Knights go on the road and faced Quinsigamond Community College tipoff is scheduled to be at 7 p.m.

On Thursday, Jan. 27 NECC Knights defeated University of Connecticut at Avery Point for a conference division game 67 to 47 it was a 6 p.m. tip off at the Sports and Fitness Center at the Haverhill campus.  

Knights were looking to win six in the row for the first time since 2008-09 season.  

The Knights were 9-7 overall and 6-2 in conference division game heading into Jan. 27 game.  

Before the game I hinted at the possibility to coach Stratton of winning six in a row “I think it will be great for the kids if we can pull of a victory tonight, he said.

“What we are really doing is my captain is doing a great job which we are trying to stay focused and concentrate on the next game which we have all leagues game coming up. I have a funny feeling Bristol is going to get canceled on Saturday with the blizzard coming supposedly, so this game is extremely important to us because after this game we don’t play again until CCRI on Tuesday… every game is important to get a victory but it is always nice when you are in the winning side then being in the losing side.”  

On Nov. 20 Knights beat this same team at Connecticut 62 to 59 “I think it all plays out how we come to play if we come to play at our best I think we’re good as anybody but sometimes we really have a tough time getting going during our winning streak,” Stratton said. “We haven’t had that issue but in the past we had a tough time getting going so hopefully that’s not a problem tonight,” Stratton said.  

Stratton also said they have recently gotten some key players back that wasn’t playing that game (Nov. 20) due to injury. Philip Cunningham, Cristian Kinsley and Matt D’Amato have all returned after being absent on Nov. 20 game because of injury.

Knights won tipoff against UConn at Avery Point. Both teams had nonfoul during the game until the first period with 11:25 remaining and Matt D’Amato hit a foul.

Coach Stratton told me in the post-game interview “I was very surprised but I felt that’s a tribute to a couple of different things I don’t think we (have) been as aggressive so I think we (have) been a little lazy and tributed to not being overly aggressive to not many foul calls the other thing is I felt that we were playing pretty good defense to the point we were communicating well getting a good position…, Stratton said.  

In the first four minutes the Knights started aggressive going on 10-5 run.

Ashton Ventola of Danville, N.H., who scored 5 points in 14 minutes against UConn Avery Point, told me “We just wanted to stay aggressive that’s our goal to stay aggressive the whole game we wanted to make sure we want them to put them in the hole early. We wanted to,  we were in kill mode all the time that’s what we need to do all the time we jumped on them early, we had a good lead, we were moving the ball well, we were making shot that’s how we able to keep aggressive the whole time.” 

During the game it was a little concerning UConn Avery Point in the first half they were scoring in rebounds the Knights they are one of the best rebounds in the conference Stratton told me “That’s what I was concern we are one of the best rebound team in our regent and in the first half UConn Avery Point was rebounding us. They brought more afait they out hustle us they were aggressive in the glass we really weren’t discipline in our fundamentals we weren’t finding a men and boxing out and it opened up a lot of lanes for UConn Avery Point to attacken and grab the rebounds…, Stratton said.  

Kevin Monteiro just played four minutes against  UConn Avery Point. He got injured in the first half with a low ankle sprain injury, something related to his tendon Stratton told me “It’s a minor injury that he should be able to fight through it he tried to put pressure on it before we coming off from half-time but told me he just couldn’t go so we just shut him down,” Stratton said.  

He should be ready to go for Tuesday Feb. 1, when the Knights hit the road against CCRI who are undefeated 10-0 on Region 21 conference and 12-2 overall during the season.  

In the first half the Knights committed four fouls while UConn at Avery Point made two. The Knights were up 34-22 when they went into the locker room.  

Daniel Almarante of Lawrence had 10 points during the fist half that led the Knights in the game he finished with 16 points.  

In the second period with nine minutes and 20 second left Knights were up 55 to 35. They had a 20-point lead “we came very efficient we talked about it in half time the second half we started much better as you saw  we buckle down defensively. I know Cristian pick up a quick foul, R2 (Mehmet) picked up a foul his third foul in the 19:38 mark. I was going to make the decision to pull him out and he wave me off saying let me play through it which I am happy that I did… I think in the second half we played much much better much better, Stratton said.  

 Coach Stratton only time out came on the second period with only 5:02 left to go “What I got aggravated at 5:02 mark if you saw that from the 7:00 minute mark to the 5:02 mark we had three offensive possessions and well out of sink Daniel (Almarante) I spoke with earlier he got to get a set his got to get situated. We had guys in wrong position we were taking bad shots we were forcing a lot of things and we become very undisciplined no matter if you have a 15 point lead or 20 point lead you start creating bad habits, that bad habits carried over and in this region this is going to be one or two possession games that you going to need you better be making the right decision and if you start creating bad habits bad habits carried over …, Stratton said.  

 Knights had six fouls in the second half while UConn at Avery Point had two in total during the game the Knights had ten while UConn had four.  

Knights defeated UConn Avery Point 67 to 47 this is the Knights first six game winning streak since 2008-09 season.  

After the game I had a chance to talk to Jasjit Banwait of Malton Ontario who scored 4 points, 5 rebounds and played 17 minutes.

I asked him if he knows this is the first since 2008-09 season that they won 6 in a row “I didn’t know that this is a great team to be a part of we going for a championship we should be winning six in a row,” Banwait said.   

It will be a good battle on Feb.1,  the red-hot Knights Basketball will face Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) in the road. CCRI are 10-0 in conference division game and 12-2 overall. Tipoff is scheduled to be at 7 p.m.  

On Thursday, Jan. 20, NECC Knights was in action and defeated Eastern Nazarene JV 84 to 63.  It was there first game back at home in the spring semester.

They host Eastern Nazarene JV for a non-conference division game. Tip off was at 6 p.m.

Fans are not permitted for the next four home games during the month of January as voted by the NJCAA region 21 athletic director due to the high spike of the omicron variant.

The Knights have won three in a row. Heading into Jan. 20 contest they were looking to win there first four game winning streak since 2017.

Mehmet Asik of Ankara, Turkey, said he did not felt weird at all playing without fans.

“To be honest I didn’t felt weird and I don’t think any of us felt weird ,”he said. “Playing with fans is always more fun and push us more but at the end of the day we do what we do and our job is go and play…I think we were okay but if we had fans that will be more fun for sure.”

I asked coach Darren Stratton what kind of preparation the boys were doing during the break.

“They were doing a strength and conditioning program over a drive once we left on break and the other thing is we started up on Jan. 3 as far our regular practice goes…” Stratton said.

I asked Coach Stratton before the game if playing without fans would affect the players.

He explained, “I think we having an advantage towards that for one reason. We were one of  two junior colleges in our region last year that were able to play during a Covid season. So last year Christian Kinsley, Daniel Almarante, Cameron Stratton played through the Covid season where we didn’t had any fans… I think that they can help the kids on our basketball team get them mentally prepared without fans and that’s a good strength,” Stratton said.

Matt Logue, Elijah Hass, Cameron Stratton and Ezekiel Barning was not eligible to play against Eastern Nazarene JV because of academic issues.

The Knights started off aggressive to begin the game 11-3 run in the first 2 minutes and 57 seconds. During that run Phillip Cunningham of Haverhill had 4 points, Daniel Almarante of Lawrence had 5 points and Mehmet Asik of Ankara Turkey had 4 points.

Stratton told me during the post game interview “Right now we’re going with a unit that we feel comfortable with for second semester. They really played well, this unit, against Mass Bay and we felt this unit moves the ball very well. They played very well together both offensive and defensively… this unit that we started really seems to play well together and clicked together…” Stratton said.

The Knights had 8 fouls in the first period while Eastern Nazarene JV had 5. Eastern Nazarene JV had 2 turnovers b during the first 6 minutes in the first period. Meanwhile for the Knights Jasjit Banwait of Malton Ontario had a turnover.

Knights were leading 41 to 29 they were up by 12 at the half. Despite the Knights having a 12 points led Stratton told me “I think we left points on the table in the first half and also defensively we gave up some points that I think that we going to give up on the game to comes…” Stratton said.

Daniel Almarante of Lawrence told me “We were moving the ball really well trying to cut, pass work in our fundamentals and like R2 said (nickname for Mehmet) our chemistry got a lot better.” Almarante said.

Daniel Almarante of Lawrence scored 19 points throughout the game 10 in the first half and 9 in the second half.

“I think Daniel is getting better and better every single game I know they is a lot Daniel needs to improve on but he is a kid that always come to work he always puts in the extra time he always listens he always take the criticism positivity…” Stratton said.

Asik of Ankara, Turkey scored 20 points during the game.

Stratton talked to me a little bet about his performance ? “I am going to be honest with you his scoring might have been there but I attribute that to the passes he received from his teammates because Mehmet tonight was struggling defensively that has become a concern for me and we going to talk about…” Stratton said.

In the second period the Knights was struggling in between they started strong when the second period start and when it ended but in the middle it was a problem for them they weren’t as aggressive. The Knights had 9 fouls during the second period overall they finished with 17 fouls during the game.

The performance of Daniel Almarante and Mehmet Asik  combining 39 points together it was enough to defeat Eastern Nazarene JV 84 to 63.

This is the Knights first four game winning streak since 2017.They will host Bunker Hill Community College for a conference division game on Sun. Jan. 23 tip off is scheduled to be at noon.