All posts by Observer Staff

Campus Life, Home Page News Bytes

Radiologic Tech club holds food drive

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From November 1st to December 1st, the Radiologic Technology Club is hosting a food drive for students and staff to participate in as a part of this holiday season.

On the Lawrence campus the boxes are set up in the Dimitry building and on the Haverhill campus the boxes areset up in the student center.

Food donation bins
Donation boxes in the Dimitry building on the Lawrence campus for the Radiologic Tech Club’s food drive. Sarah Peirson, Correspondent

The Radiologic Technology Club at Northern Essex participates in alot of fundraising to help raise money for their seminars.

During the seminars students are able todiscuss what they have learned through their programs, talk about fundraising,how they can helpeach other and how they can help the community as a whole. The food drive is usually once a semester, but the club tries to target Thanksgiving to help students with money or food insecurities.

Emma Luce the President of the Radiologic Technology Club states that she enjoys the fundraising aspect of the club because it helps you get involved with the community and help them outside of just the medical field.

“We hosted some coat drives that did really well and we wanted to continue to help people so we hosted the food drive as well,” Luce states.

This semester was the first time in three years the club has been meeting on campus

Luce talks about how you meet a lot more people in this program that you may have never met in your classes and how it’s a great way to make connections.

“If any students are interested in anything regarding radiology or the Radiologic Technology Club, definitely contact Angela Bowers,” Luce encourages.

You can take your non-perishable food items to either Dimitry Building or Student Center to help out those in need this holiday season.

Opinion
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Searching for a job can take longer than expected. Did you know the average time from application to accepting a full-time job in 2022 is three to six months? Preparing for your search, applying and interviewing, researching companies, and successfully landing a position requires patience and diligence.

Here are Career Services’ top 5 tips for job searching:

1. Login to Handshake.
• Handshake is NECC’s job board and much more! Attend free employer-hosted events, search for internships and jobs, and check out NECC’s Career Center Resource area for templates.
• To get on to Handshake, login to your MyNECC Portal and scroll to the bottom of the homepage. Click the Handshake login on the left-hand side.
2. Prepare!
• Creating a resume and cover letter is a great first step in your job search. It’s best to proofread your application materials, making sure they are free of spelling and punctuation mistakes. Then ask yourself, are your application materials telling your story? Do they contain relevant information that shows you are the best candidate for the job? Are they clear, concise, and easy to read?
• Pro tip: Reach out to three qualified people to give you feedback. Career Services can be one of them! It’s good to have a small group of people provide suggested edits before you apply.
3. Keep Track of Your Applications.
• Save the job description as a Word file or PDF. You may find the job posting has been taken offline when you go to interview, and you will be thankful to Tracking your applications in a journal or separate Excel document is a great idea.
• Another helpful tool is to create a spreadsheet to track your applications. List the company name, the job title, and the date you applied in a document. You may find yourself creating multiple accounts and applying to different companies. This spreadsheet is a good place to keep your account info, reminders, and notes about the role and company.
4. Networking and Events.
• Sometimes the best job for you is one not listed on a website. Attending events – virtual or in-person – and meeting people in the roles or company you want to work for is an excellent way to discover these unlisted opportunities. Take initiative today! Create a LinkedIn account and start connecting with friends, family, NECC alumni, and more.
5. Beware of scams.
• If the job listing seems too good to be true, it likely is. Here are five common signs of a scam:
1. A job post that claims you will make a thousand dollars a week by working from home is a common example.
2. Jobs with poor grammar and multiple misspellings.
3. The email address isn’t right. The company name is misspelled or the email ends with Gmail or Yahoo.
4. There’s an upfront cost. You’re asked for pay for your own laptop and equipment with a promise of being reimbursed.
5. You’re asked to send a resume and there’s no specific job posting. Someone could be looking to get your contact information, such as your home address, phone number, or email.

Want to connect with Career Services?

It’s never too early to connect! Our services are FREE for students and recent alumni. We help you build career development knowledge, skills, and tools that will help you now and throughout your career.
Zoom and in-person appointments are available. Schedule through Navigate or email careerservices@necc.mass.edu with questions.

 

Opinion

Healey is a great choice for our state

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With the Massachusetts mid-term elections decided, Democrats came out with big wins across the state. The Democrats won 37 State Senate races as opposed to only three Republicans and had 132 wins as opposed to 25 in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. But the big historic win for the state of Massachusetts is Governor elect Maura Healey with 63 percent of the vote.

Healey will be the first woman elected governor in Massachusetts and the first openly lesbian governor in the country.

Healey has a clear vision of what she wants to accomplish

The climate crisis is one of her top priorities. “She understands the critical urgency of this issue and she knows what’s at stake – especially for the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable communities,” according to Maurahealey.com

According to her website, she will innovate with state government, “working directly with the communities, implementing science-based policy, partnering with clean technology businesses and supporting clean energy research development.”

Healey supports criminal justice reform. She supported the 2020 Police Reform Bill in Massachusetts repealing the mandatory minimums and bail reform. With the new Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, she wants to “ensure that our police departments and officers have uniform, training standards, certification and decertification policies, de-escalation tactics and other lifesaving procedures,” according to her website.

Healey will “appoint leaders who share a commitment to public safety, equity and criminal justice reform,” the website said.

She will continue to support investments that prevent entry into the criminal justice system in the first place by expanding and increasing access to behavioral health care and recovery services and hiring more social workers in schools. For those re-entering our communities, she will look to advance opportunities that increase access to jobs and education, according to her website.

Healey sees workforce developmement opportunities “as a means to support people who are re-entering society” and provide stipends for former inmates to live off of while they train for new jobs.”

Healey will continue to support legislation to ensure incarcerated individuals are not charged for phone calls to their loved ones which can be extremely expensive for family members. She believes “we must remove barriers to re-entry like losing a drivers license or being barred from good paying jobs or affordable housing,” according to her website.

She will “invest in multidisciplinary crisis to response teams to respond to certain emergency calls including behavioral health and homelessness” which will prevent less guns for a mental health crisis.

“As Governor, Healey will continue to be a strong advocate for federal funding for early education and care. She supports the Common Start Proposal which would make child care free for the lowest-income families, limit child care costs for most families to no more than seven percent of their income, and significantly increase pay for early educators to address the work force crisis in the early education field,” according to her website.

As Governor, Healey will continue to focus on “closing achievement gaps and better support for students and their families in K-12 education, which includes the Student Opportunity Act which provides more equitable funding for our school districts.”

She finds it important to invest in behavioral health services. She wants to update our school buildings which are in disrepair, outdated, lack modern science labs and equipment. Schools suffer from poor ventilation and are not environmentally sustainable, according to her website.

“The buildings most in need of renovation or replacement are disproportionately in lower-income communities that serve larger populations of Black and Brown students and educators who deserve to learn in a modern and healthy environment.” according to Healey.

Healey’s website says that “as Governor, Healey will promote to recruit and retain educators of color and expand early college programs. The Massachusetts Early College Initiative helps students from low-income families and communities of color earn free college credits and receive support while still in high school.”

Healey will “focus to find paths for students in higher education.” Healey was the first “AG in the country to create a Student Loan Assistance Unit and has helped thousands of borrowers navigate our broken student debt system,” according to her website.

For Healey, “tackling our student debt crisis is a matter of basic economics and racial justice.” As governor she will continue to “urge President Joe Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student debt per borrower.”

Healey intends on “investing in our community colleges.” Healey will also work to improve access and affordability for higher education so more students can graduate debt free, according to her website.

As Governor, Healey will stand up for reproductive freedom. She intends to “shield providers and patients from civil and criminal liability for performing and receiving reproductive or gender affirming care.” which is legal in Massachusetts, according to her website.

Healey would like to “increase access to emergency contraception by calling on the Department of Public Health to issue a statewide standing order for individuals to have access it with no cost at the pharmacy,” according to her website.”

Healey would like to “mandate health insurers to cover reproductive and gender affirming care, including abortion.” She wants patients to have no deductibles, copays or sharing requirements from insurers, according to her website.

“Healey would fight to permit access to abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy in cases of severe fetal anomaly and would work to enact other recommendations of the Beyond ROE Coalition,” among other reproductive concerns, according to her website.

As Governor, Healey wants to ensure rights for people with disabilities ensuring her administration addresses “the rights, needs and aspirations of those individuals with disabilities in a comprehensive and coordinated way,” the website said.

As Governor, Healey will continue to stand up to efforts to infringe on LGBTQ+ rights and work to “ensure that everyone in Massachusetts can live a happy, healthy, authentic life,” according to the website.

This would include adopting gender neutral markers on more official documents, and streamlining the process of co-parent adoption, according to her website.

Healey is also focused on the health care affordability crisis first by “treating mental and behavioral care as seriously as all other forms of health care.” She would like to lower the cost of prescription drugs and will focus on ways to lower overall healthcare for families, according to her website.

Housing affordability is one of Healey’s top issues. Her administration will establish a state-led pro-housing campaign to “educate residents about our housing shortage and advocate for the creation of enhanced housing options in the

Commonwealth.” This effort will include public advocacy, training and education for community members and business leaders, toolkits and technical assistance for local officials, along with support for establishing local and regional housing production goals, according to her website.

Healey wants to “ensure our public transportation system is safe, reliable and accessible throughout the state.” Upon taking office she will immediately appoint a Transportation Safety Chief to work across the relevant transportation agencies to conduct full safety review of our rail and bus operations, and roads and bridges, including cyclists and pedestrians, according to her website.

Healey will “promote economic development that creates opportunity, serving and balancing needs of all stakeholders, our communities, workers, employers and investors.” “She will approach all efforts through an equity lens, ensuring everyone in Massachusetts can access high-quality jobs and careers.”

Healey will continue to “defend our immigrant communities and work to find meaningful ways to make sure everyone in our state feels safe, welcome and has the tools to thrive.” She will end state and local law enforcement’s involvement in federal immigration matters. At the federal level she would like to “provide a meaningful pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants”, according to her website.

Healey is also committed to protecting voter rights for the residents of Massachusetts by expanding access to the ballot in the Commonwealth. She would like to pass the VOTES Act in Massachusetts, including same day voter registration and election day voting, and make voting more accessible to people who are incarcerated.

I believe Massachusetts has voted in the perfect, progressive governor who will bring equality to all in the Commonwealth.

Arts and Entertainment, Home Page Featured News

New art gallery opens on Lawrence campus

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Student standing in front of artwork
NECC art student Ione poses with some artwork at the art gallery opening in the Fournier building on Amesbury Street in Lawrence on Nov. 15. Shantely Aquino, Features Editor

On the night of Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. the department of Art + Design held the grand opening for the very first art gallery on NECC’s Lawrence Campus.The new gallery is located in the Louise Haffner Fournier building on Amesbury Street, now where art classes are held for Lawrence NECC artists.

This event was brought together by Michelle Carter, the chair of the art program, and an art professor, as well as Dean Amy Callahan.

This event showcased art from students taking art at NECC, from various classes including Carter’s. Throughout the lobby of the building art from students was presented and encased beautifully.

The viewers of the gallery consisted of faculty, students and proud relatives. Drinks and delicious appetizers were displayed as well as a live piano which was playing delicately George Gershwin’s music.

Many guests were chatting softly amongst each other, visibly thrilled to be there.

Cassandra Kussad had her art featured as the cover of the flier for this event. The art was made in her art class.

Kussad was excited for this event and to be able to show her art to an audience.

Kussad said “what I like about my… art class is that it has no particular guidelines … I find it to be very free when it comes to my assignments,” she said.

Artwork
Some of the student artwork on display at the art gallery opening in the Fournier building on the Lawrence campus on Nov. 15. Shantely Aquino, Features editor

Kussad’s relative mentioned how her grandfather was also an artist, stating how creativity is so magical in the way you can make something out of “thin air,” out of for example, a napkin and a pen, as Kussad’s grandfather would do.

Like many artists Kussad finds inspiration in everything when it comes to art. She used art to express herself.

Following a similar theme Ione, a student of Carter’s drawing I class, states that “you cannot teach art or really learn but somebody can guide you, Michelle is excellent at guiding us to places where we can be at our fullest potential.”

Ione is a first year NECC art and design major who does face painting when she is outside of school. She too, like Kussad, hopes to one day be able to pursue art as a career.

“It is terribly exciting to be able to give the opportunity to showcase students’ art here,” said Callahan.

Artwork
Some of the student artwork on display at the art gallery opening in the Fournier building on the Lawrence campus on Nov. 15. Shantely Aquino, Features Editor

 

The conversation about how NECC can make art classes an easier commute as opposed to heading to the Haverhill campus for the art students who reside in Lawrence began with a challenge that Carter thought she should help solve, Carter and other faculty members thought of ways they could help.

Dr.Paul Beaudin, vice president of academic affairs and provost brought together a meeting with staff including Callahan who then proposed to make the building attainable for teaching art.

“Everyone was so proactive to solve this challenge,” says Carter. A blank slate was transformed by the maintenance crew who really brought together the perfect space for professors to to teach and for students to learn. Carter wishes to soon fill the area with even more art by the art students at NECC.

Artwork

 

Editorial

Stuck overnight heading to NYC for Basketball Coverage

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On Friday evening  Oct.11, I drove  from Lawrence, MA to Corona Queens, NY, to stay at my relative’s  house to cover the Knights basketball game on Saturday at noon in Long Island against Suffolk and on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Essex County.

There is a twist on this story, let me explain all of you what happened. I was driving perfectly fine, my car was working good, we passed Massachusetts.  I left from my house at around five pm since I had to wait until my dad came home. It was not just me, it was my parents, my grandma and my brother came with me to NY. 

Alright so we left around five and they were traffic like crazy on Friday evening, accident left and right it was brutal. Anyways fast forward  they was a weird smell that it didn’t  smell to good the smell was like Gasol. My mom open the window of my car because she thought it was my car but my dad said no because two trucks on the left lane was passing by so we thought it was the truck.

Everything was fine all of a sudden out of nowhere the car stop in the middle of the highway. I put the both blinkers on I turned off my car, then I turned back on after two minutes. My mom was panicking in the back seat my brother didn’t know what was going on since he was sleeping and my dad and my grandma was trying to calm down my mom.

I was starting to getting frustrated a little so we took the nearest exit and it was Rocky Hill, Connecticut, it was an hour and thirty minutes from where I was staying at in New York.

I took the nearest exit which I had what I need to do then the car started shooting off by it self every two minutes then the car stopped completely.

Rocky Hill cops ask what was happening when were stopped on the side of the street next to a Mobil gas station that it was no longer in service. I told the cop, I explained to him the situation that was happen to me. I told him I need someone to boast up my car that my car doesn’t want to run. He said he was coming right back. Meanwhile I ask someone to boast up my car that I have the cable so a person was trying to help me out  keep on mind this was around 9:35 p.m. Friday night where I got stuck. I tried to ask someone for booster to boast up my car that it didn’t work the same cop came right back. We then figure it out the air compressor it doesn’t work.

Mechanic try's to fixed my car on Saturday morning at Rocky Hill, Connetict.
Mechanic try’s to fixed my car on Saturday morning at Rocky Hill, Connecticut. Photo by Editor-in-Chief / Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez

No mechanic  was working since it was already late at night it was getting closer to 10 p.m. So the cop and the other person was pushing my car until I parked in the mobile gas station that doesn’t work anymore.   We had three different options: number one stayed overnight in a near by hotel or number two to try to sleep in the car until next morning the mechanic was open or number three so my car will be towed an hour and thirty minutes away were my relative house in NY.  I called different companies and see the price range they gave me was in between $600 to $850 range — no way. So my parents, my grandma, my brother and my self we slept over night in my car until the next morning. Forget about sleeping, I barley got enough sleep on top of that it was raining as well.

The next morning came we saw online a mechanic  open at 6 in the morning so we order an uber 2.4 miles where my car is. I went with my dad, my mom stayed in my car with my grandma and my brother.

So me and my dad went to the mechanic and when I got there it says open 8 to 4. So now I’m frustrated and upset because know is Saturday morning game starts at noon I’m usually in the arena an hour before tip off start to do interviews.  I’m thinking to myself for me to go to the game today there needs to be a miracle.

We called different mechanic   and stuff and one of the mechanic  recognized our voice and told us if we were the people that was heading to last night in  New York who got stuck and we said yeah we still here we slept overnight in the car, etc.

So he came to us and when he came to us he realized the belt of the car is no good it doesn’t work, it broke.

So I went to O’Reilly to get a new belt meanwhile the uber driver stayed with us the whole time and he was nice God bless him. He said he was going to stay until the car is fixed just in case if we need anything else.

We put the belt in my car and it was around 10 in the morning so I started to calculate on my head and I was like okay I might be there for the beginning off tip off if not early in the first period.

We put the belt and I saw the wheel is know turning and stuff like that so I said okay were making progress. Which it was a good sign.

Then I press the gas for a  minute or two and we realized the compressor of the air was no longer functioning smoke was coming out.  

So we left it there we put a sign coming back tomorrow with the mechanic meanwhile this is Saturday morning know.

I left my car in Rocky Hill, Connecticut. I got in New York because of traffic and everything almost 2:30 pm it was a disaster.

The next day while I was at the basketball game in New Jersey my dad and two mechanics from across the street  they buy the piece that were missing to go to Rocky Hill Connecticut and to fix up my car they got home almost at 7:15 p.m. and close to 8 p.m. we left back to Lawrence on Sunday night.

Slider, Sports

Knights Basketball defeats Essex at New Jersey

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On Sunday Nov. 13, the NECC Knights defeated Essex County College 66 to 62 in Newark, N.J.

The Knights were looking to regroup on Sunday, Nov. 13, after losing to Suffolk Community College a day prior at Selden, Long Island, N.Y.

“Hopefully we regroup, we had a good talk and I mean playing against this school (Essex) that they got 12 of their guys on scholarship so it’s going to be a difficult task but I think eventually we will play much better today, than we played yesterday,” said NECC Knights Basketball head Coach Darren Stratton before the game.

The game started at 12:02 p.m.

Mehmet “R2” Asik of Ankara, Turkey, won the tip off against Essex.

Phillip Cunningham of Haverhill shot for two and he made it in.

Ryan Pacy of Salem N.H., missed the three pointer, it was rebounded by Cunningham who passed it to Cristian Kinsley of Lawrence who scored a three pointer for the Knights.

Essex took advantage of the Knights turnover that they scored.

Jeremiah Melendez of Lawrence scored a three pointer.

The Knights were down by a point, the score was 15 to 14 when Stratton called a time out.

Pacy scored for the Knights of Salem, N.H.

The Knights turned the ball over, it was a turnover for the Knights.

Knights vs Essex County on Sunday Nov. 13 at Newark, New Jersey
Knights vs Essex County on Sunday Nov. 13 at Newark, New Jersey. Photo by Editor-in-Chief/ Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez

The Knights were on top. Edwin SamMbaka of Paris, France, made it 18 to 17.

An offensive foul on Essex gave possession on the Knights ball.

Melendez scored a three pointer to put the Knights up by two, the score was 21-19. The game eventually was tied at 21 when Melendez found Kinsley who banged in a three.

The Knights and Essex were fouling and eventually both teams went to the free throw line.

The Knights were up by eight, the Knights were winning 31 to 23.

The Knights had back-to-back travel with SamMbaka and Asik.

The Knights were up by four at the half, 35 to 31 when they went into their locker room.

I ask coach Stratton I felt you guys could’ve scored more points  in the first half that you guys were missing shots?

“Oh we could’ve and that’s something we got to correct in practice we (are) missing way too many easy lay ups, too many open shots but that only comes work that is something that we can’t correct overnight, it’s something that we got to correct throughout practice and keep repeating in practice,” Stratton said.

The Knights’ largest lead in the first half was eight and Essex cut it to four.

The Knights in the beginning of the second period weren’t as aggressive as they were in the first half.

Essex was in a run against the Knights, then Pacy scored a three to put the Knights on top and Essex tied on a free throw at 42 a piece.

Essex was on top 44 to 42. Angel Herrera of Lawrence scored a three to give the Knights a 45 to 44 lead.

Tre Fite of Massillon, Ohio  scored a three pointer Asik stole the ball, passed it to Melendez to put the Knights up 50 to 45 as the Knights were up by five.

Asik made it 52-45 eventually. The score was 55 to 47 when the Knights lead was slipping away.

The Knights were leading by three as Kinsley made a free throw with the next possession. Kinsley shot a three as the Knights increased their lead.

Pacy extended the Knights lead with a three pointer to make it 62 to 54.

A good pass for the Knights as the plan was executed perfectly to make this game 64 to 54.

The Knights lead almost slipped away in a hurry, they were up 65-62 but it was enough to defeat Essex, a huge win for the Knights.

Cunningham told me the difference between Nov. 12 and Nov. 13 match up was “today it was a wake up call,” Cunningham said. “We under estimated them so we came back today and get the win,” he said.

Luis Reynoso of Lawrence did not played on Sunday contest with a hip injury.

The Knights home opener home opener will be on Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Sports and Fitness Center in the Haverhill Campus.

Slider, Sports

Pacy’s late minutes heroic defeats Quinsigamond

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On Thursday, Nov. 10, NECC Knights defeated Quinsigamond Community College 76 to 73 in Worcester.

I asked NECC Knights assistant coach Cameron Stratton, the son of the head coach Darren Stratton, how are they blocking all the noise and not being distracted as this is the home opener for Quinsigamond?

“Yeah, it seems we played a couple home openers now from NHTI and Bunker Hill. I think the guys are starting to finally get used to it especially the guys that are playing for a while and I think we will be ready for the atmosphere,” Cameron Stratton said.

The Knights won the tip-off. Mehmet “R2”Asik scored to make it 2-0. Quinsigamond tied the game up.

Luis Reynoso of Lawrence  put the Knights 5 to 4 and Asik extend the Knights lead.

The game was 7 to 6 when Jasjit Banwait of Malton, Ontario, Canada, shot a two pointer.

The Knights eventually were trailing in the ball game 13 to 9.

The Knights were committing fouls. Darlin Santiago of Salem,  shot a three pointer followed by Jeremiah Melendez of Lawrence with a two pointer, as the Knights retook the lead, 16 to 13. Knights retake the lead 16 to 13.

The Knights were up 18 to 17 when it was called a jump ball.

Melendez of the Knights made a three pointer to make it 21 to 17. Edwin SamMbaka of Paris, France, made it 23 to 17.

SamMbaka stole the ball and he ran into the basket to make it 25 to 17 in favor of the Knights. Ryan Pacy did the same exact thing, that made it 27 to 20 after Quinsigamond scored on a three pointer.

Reynoso scored a two pointer and extended the Knights lead by nine.

Reynoso had two fouls in a span of one minute that made Wyverns get possession of the ball.

Metin Yavuz of Istanbul, Turkey, scored to make it 33 to 25.

There was a problem going on with the scoreboard as they were a little delayed.

NECC Knights visits Quinsigamond Community College on Thursday Nov. 10 at Worcester.
NECC Knights visits Quinsigamond Community College on Thursday Nov. 10 at Worcester. Photo by Editor-in-Chief / Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez

Cristian Kinsley of Lawrence made it 39 to 29 as the Knights were up by 10 at the half.

“I think it was our depth, they played their starter a lot of minutes, in fact I don’t know their big guy 22 their big gun ever got a break. One of the things that so impressive about this team is our depth. We have a couple conference caliber guys coming off our bench and that wears (the) team down so I think as the half went on we able to stretch the lead a little bit and make it a 10 point game,” Assistant head coach Nick Nofi said.

In the second half a foul was called on Philip Cunningham of Haverhill to begin the quarter.

The game was 41-32 when Cunningham made it inside the bucket and a foul for a chance for a three point play. Cunningham made it in as the Knights were up by 10.

Reynoso missed a two pointer but his friend Mehmet “R2” Asik of Ankara, Turkey, was right there to back him up and scored a two pointer.

A three pointer by Ryan Pacy of Salem N.H., in the next possession they gave a foul on Pacy where he shot two balls in.

Pacy and Kevin Monteiro of Sommerville committed a foul for the Knights.

Quinsigamond made a run against the Knights to make this game interesting.

Asik ended Quinsigamond run by scoring a two pointer.

Reynoso shot for two and a foul went to the free throw line where he made it in. Asik made for two.

There were a lot of fouls during the ball game.

“We just get a little bit slappy and we got into foul trouble, also we started to make wrong decisions and get into foul trouble, also we started to make wrong decisions and started to take all the shots and we couldn’t make them but we are going to work at it during practice,” Asik said.

Quinsigamond took a two point lead as they were leading the Knights 71 to 69.

The Knights blow a 19 point lead.

“They zone hurt us, they played a 1-3-1 and sometimes 3-2 zone and we were always never patient to attacking it, getting turnover to try to force it inside by moving around the too much inside, out and we didn’t shoot well against it. We can’t move the ball and get lay ups of the zone… and they did a good job of slowing the game down executing their half court set…” Nofi said.

Pacy shot a three to put the Knights ahead in the ball game, the next possession Pacy made both free throws in.

“Our game plan is always to play hard and share the ball running for it and pull each other on and pretty much it,” Asik said.

Pacy’s late minute heroics were enough to defeat Quinsigamond 76 to 73.

Slider, Sports

Knights basketball first conference division win of the season

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On Tuesday, Nov. 8, the NECC Knights defeated Bunker Hill Community College Bulldogs 87 to 77 for their first conference division game of the season and improved to 3-0 overall during the season.

Before the game I asked NECC Basketball head coach, Coach Darren Stratton how he managed a conference division game vs non conference.

“Every game matters,” Coach Stratton said. “This game is more significant coming towards our overall record and as far as our regional record goes, I might be tonight tied in the bench to see how it goes and not goes as deep but which looks toward any other game and hopefully we tried to improve what we did over the weekend and hopefully to improve it to conference game,” said Stratton.

The Bulldogs were ranked number five in the nation preseason coming into tonight’s game. I asked Coach Stratton how scary the Bulldogs can be and what the Knights can do to stay focused and still get a victory in the road?

“I think we just got to play our type of game we can’t let them slow us down … they have a huge size advantage against us, their point guard is an All Region player first team so we need a lot in our group to try to control him. They beat a very good Bronx team in New York over the weekend so we are looking forward towards the challenge and I think my guys will be up for the challenge for tonight,” he said.

The game officially started at 6:05 p.m.

Bulldogs won the tipoff against the Knights.

Bulldogs struck first scoring the first four points during the game.

Phillip Cunningham of Haverhill scored a two pointer followed by two three pointer by Cristian Kinsley of Lawrence to put this game 8 to 4 in favor of the Knights.

The Bulldogs had four fouls in the first six minutes of the game.

Jeremiah Melendez of Lawrence scored a two pointer for the Knights to make this game 13 to 12 in favor of the Bulldogs, the next possession that the Knights had Melendez put the Knights on top as they were up by one.

Luis Reynoso of Lawrence made one of two in as the Knights increased their lead by two.

Knights vs Bulldogs on Nov. 08, 2022 at Charlestown, MA
Knights vs Bulldogs on Nov. 08, 2022 at Charlestown, MA Photo by Editor-in-Chief/ Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez

Bulldogs Osa Irlowen of Milton put the Bulldogs ahead 18 to 17.

Melendez was in the free throw line where he tied the score up at 18 a piece.

The Bulldogs made it 20 to 18 after the Knights tied the game at 20.

Melendez passed the ball to Kevin Monteiro of Sommerville to put the Knights up 22 to 20. In the next possession Melendez increased the Knights lead by four.

The game was tied at 26 when Reynoso with a lay up put the Knights up 28 to 26. Cunningham made it 30 to 28. Edwin SamMbaka of Paris, France made it 32 to 28.

The Knights kept them self in distance against the Bulldogs by going on a 21 to 2 run to end the first half.  

The Knights were up 49 to 28 when they went into their locker room at the half. Bulldogs had 10 fouls and the Knights six.

“I thought that was the key, we finished the half on a 21-2 run but then in the second half I believe they open up on a 13 to 1 run. I mean we can’t have that inconsistency, if you want to be a championship team you have to have consistency,” said Coach Stratton.

Forty nine points, that is the most the Knights have scored in one period during the course of the season.

In the second half Bulldogs ended that run by playing more aggressive and Bulldogs battle through.

Bulldogs had two different runs in the second period.

13 to 1 run and a 24 to 2 run.

“Our energy just dropped we didn’t rebound we didn’t push the ball in the floor but then they got back to say,” said NECC Knight basketball player Ryan Pacy.

The Knights weren’t playing aggressive basketball, they were playing sloppy defense and were not executing during that run that the Bulldogs had.

The Knights were missing a lot of free throws and they weren’t executing the way they wanted.

“We missed a lot of free throws and our executing wasn’t good, our executing got to be much better and I think we can learn from this, I am just glad that we came in the winning side,” Coach Stratton said.

The Knights scored the next four points to make it 66 to 59.

Mehmet Asik “R2” of Ankara, Turkey was in the free throw line when the Knights were up 69 to 65 Asik made two free throws in to make it 71 to 65.

The Knights increased their lead to 76 to 65.

SamMbaka nailed down a three for the Knights to put this game 79 to 70.

The Knights defeated Bulldogs 87 to 77. In the second half the Knights had eight fouls and Bulldogs 14.

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Kinsley and Reynoso combined for 28 points in a win over Mustangs

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 On Saturday, Nov. 5,  NECC Knights defeated Central Maine Mustangs 78 to 63 in Concord, N.H., for the tap off classic.

Before the game Coach Darren Stratton told me he talked to his players to clean up all the dirty plays that they did on opening night in the first game of the season.

“That’s the first thing we said to clean up the stuff, clean up the game clean up the turnovers. It’s tough  when you can’t practice you can talk all you want but when you can’t practice it, it’s going to be extremely difficult but that’s the first thing we enforced, we enforced finding a men boxing out and cleaning up the turnover we gave them 22 turnovers, that’s 22 extra position we gave them so we can’t have that we going to lose more than what we going to win,” he said.

The Mustangs won the tap-off against the Knights. The game started at 12:04 p.m.

Central Maine scored first to get things started against the Knights.

Luis Reynoso of Lawrence scored a three pointer to put the Knights up 3 to 2 in the game.

The Knights increased that lead as Jeremiah Melendez of Lawrence made it 6 to 4.

Mustangs tied the game up at 6.

Reynoso put the Knights ahead 8 to 6.

The Knights were up 12 to 8 when Edwin SamMbaka of Paris, France went to the free throw line and made two shots in.

Cristian Kinsley of Lawrence shot a three and made it in Kinsley was five for four on three point line in the first half Kinsley finished with 12 points in the game.

Kinsley and Reynoso combined for 28 points.

“Yeah I think Luis and Cristian as well as some other guys had some excellent game today. Luis and Cristian played all the way through high school. So I think they know each other tendency and they work off each other and was showing today, I mean Luis this weekend I think was man against boys and I think everyone else in the team rally against them and he is firm believer as well as anyone else that there is no special person in this basketball team that everyone has held accountable,” Coach Stratton said.

Philip Cunningham of Haverhill stole  the ball and passed it to Reynoso as Reynoso banged a two pointer to increase the Knights lead.

It was clear the first half that the Knights got the Mustangs number. The Mustangs started to play sloppy basketball all around as the Knights got into their head.

A steal by Reynoso made it in to make it 40-18 in favor of the Knights.

The Knights were taking advantage of Mustangs foul as the Knights was making free throws. The Knights had 11 fouls while Mustangs had 10.

Knights vs NHTI on Nov. 05, 2022 at Concord, New Hampshire
Knights vs NHTI on Nov. 05, 2022 at Concord, New Hampshire Photo by Editor-in-Chief/ Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez

The second half started with Reynoso shooting a two the very next play he stole the ball and passed it to Mehemet Asik “R2” of Ankara Turkey to Melendez to Tre Fite of Massillon, Ohio who scored a three point shot.

The Knights largest lead in the first half was 24 and in the second half was 26.

“The lead slipped away some of the guys we start defending we start doing the simple things we can’t take anything for granted we have to get better every day every possession and I think we felt we took some of the possession, I think Central Maine close out the first half with an 8-0 run and then early in this half they made a 10-0 run because we got lazy, we weren’t very effective,” Coach Stratton said.

The Knights opened the second half with a 10-2 run over the Mustangs.

Metin Yavuz and Asik got technical fouls in the second half.

I ask Stratton why they were able to stay in the game if they got technical fouls.

“When you get two technical you are not allowed to get back in the court each of them receive one technical R2 was from hanging in the basket and Metin was for vulgar language that we got to clean up,” Stratton said.

The Mustangs were on a run against the Knights as they were trying to keep it closer as the run ended on Reynoso three pointer.

Stratton called a timeout, the Knights was in business Ashton Ventola of Danville, N.H. came off the bench by scoring a two pointer.

Coach Stratton used another timeout as he was pretty upset and angry that the team wasn’t playing well the way that Stratton wanted the team to perform during the middle of the second half.

“I was very upset because I had some basketball players on this team that weren’t all about the team, that they were about them self and individual and they have to understand that there is not enough minutes on this basketball game to get everyone involved and they either want to be part of the team or they going to be part of individual and from day one they know I will sign a transfer for any single player on my basketball team to transfer else where…” he said.

The Knights in the last five minutes of the game they started fouling and missing shots. They could have scored more than 78 points during the game which they won 78-63.

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Reynoso 21 points lift the Knights a victory on opening night

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 On Friday, Nov. 4, the NECC Knights defeated New Hampshire Technical Institution NHTI 81 to 69 to begin their 2022-23 campaign for the NHTI tap-off classic.

During the pre game interview NECC Basketball head coach Darren Stratton said he was excited to get the season underway “I’m excited but I know the (guys are) excited more, we’ve been doing workout since September, been practicing since October so I think the kids are more excited to get this under way than I am…” he said.

The game officially started at 7:35 p.m. NHTI won the tip off. Mehmet Asik of Ankara, Turkey fouled with just 38 second in the game.

Luis Reynoso of Lawrence made the two pointer and went to the free throw line for a chance for a three point play. Reynoso finished the game with 21 points.

“Very excited you know (the) team came out came a little slow but we came through in the second half and finished,” said Reynoso.

The Knights committed four fouls in the first five minutes of the game, also they were having a lot of turnover and were playing sloppy basketball. The Knights finished the game with 22 turnovers.

I asked Coach Stratton during the post game about the 22 turnovers that his team had. “It can’t happen, that’s my biggest concern coming in is I think I told you preseason losing Daniel (Almarante) and not having someone in the point guard position, 22 turnover it is just crazy and we just can’t have that to move forward but we are going to try some different things, try some different guys, try to find someone (who) could settle that in and hopefully some one can do that,” he said.

Edwin SamMbaka of Paris, France put the Knights ahead 12 to 11. This was the Knights first lead of the game.  

Stratton called a 30 second timeout when the Knights were losing 15 to 13.

Cristian Kinsley of Lawrence made this a one-point game when he shot it for three to make this game 17 to 16 in favor of NHTI.

NHTI made a pair of free throws to make this game 19-16.

The game was 21-16 when Reynoso made the next four points for the Knights as they were down by a point.

The Knights took a 22-21 lead as Mehemet Asik “R2” of Ankara, Turkey put the Knights on top.

Luis Reynoso strong came up huge for the Knights on opening night
Luis Reynoso huge night for the Knights on opening night Photo by: Bryan Thomas

Reynoso missed one of the two free throws as the Knights were up 23-21. Reynoso was 11 for 13 in the free throw line. Phillip Cunningham of Haverhill increased the Knights lead to four.

Ryan Pacy of Salem, N.H., shot for three and he fall down on the floor. Stratton was arguing that Pacy was fouled as the referee did not look at it that way.

“Ryan Pacy shot a three and they didn’t let him land, they said they let him land but they didn’t let him land and I felt the referee missed but he told me that he let him land so they give him the space and we move forward from that,” he said.

The Knights were down by three when Tre Fite of Massillon, Ohio found Cunningham to make this a one point game.

It was a back and forth game with two minutes left in the first half.

The Knights were trailing by a point, it was 36 to 35 at halftime. The Knights had 14 fouls while NHTI had 12.

In the second half Asik “R2” started the scoring for the Knights. The game was 39 to 38 when Kinsley laydown a three point basket to make it 42-38.

NHTI made this a two point game as the Knights answered back by scoring the next five points, a two point shot by Reynoso and Peter Lopota of Groveland, off the bench, banged a three pointer.

The Knights had momentum to begin the second half, that lead wasn’t big enough, the momentum was taking away a little as NHTI had a lead and the Knights came back to tie the game at 52.

During the course of the game the lead hanged 16 times.

The Knights were winning 56 to 54 when Reynoso was in the free throw line and made both of the free throws in.

The Knights were building up momentum and created this time a large gap against NHTI as Reynoso for the second time in less than one minute was in the free throw line as he connected both shots successfully.

 Pacy stole the ball and run made it into the bucket to put this a 10 point game.

The Knights were up 79-66. The Knights increased their lead to 13 as Cunningham made two shot in as the Knights were up by 15.

Coach Stratton told me the adjustment the team had from the first half to the second half.

“The biggest adjustment we made is we decided to rebound a little bit and finding men? to block out in the first half, they just kill us in the half and we gave up way too many chance opportunity and it wasn’t just coming from the bigs it was coming from the not sure what that should say but gods spot seems weird …it was coming everywhere hopefully we can show this kids in film and clean up some of that can help us move forward,” he said.

The Knights went on to defeat NHTI on their opening night 81-69.