Tag Archives: Sports

Sports

Knights wrap up December games

 

In December the NECC Knights played 5 games, 4 away and 1 home. They played Roxbury, Bunker Hill, Springfield Tech, Southern Maine CC and Gateway (Conn).

On Dec. 1 at Roxbury, the Knights won 83-79. Roxbury outscored the Knights in the second half, 44-36, but that was not enough to reel in the “W.” Knights player Kevin Brito scored the most for NECC with 18 points. Matt Jameson and Bryan Morales were close behind, both with 13 points.

Roxbury did top the Knights in 3-point field goal percentage, with 30 percent compared to NECC’s 27 percent. They also beat the Knights free throw percentage and made more rebounds than the Knights.

After Roxbury, the team traveled to Bunker Hill and was handed their only loss in December and their first road loss of the season. Bunker Hill defeated the Knights 122-102.

The high scoring game saw Knights, Morales score 22 points, Dominic Dar with 19, and Jonathan Paulino scored 14 points.

On the other side of the court, Bunker Hill players Fredens Deneus and David Stewart scored 21 and 22 points respectively and both made 4 out of 5 of their free throw attempts.

NECC then traveled to Springfield Tech and won 99-64. Jameson and Matt Lynch shined in this game. Jameson scored 16 points and Lynch had his best game of the season, scoring 15 points and made 3 out of 5 of his 3-point attempts. Each team recorded 38 rebounds.

When NECC came home after their 3 games on the road, they faced Southern Maine Community College in one of the most exciting games of the season. The Knights won the really close game 81-76.

The Knights and Southern Maine traded the lead multiple times in the second half. Morales was once again the star for NECC, he scored 25 points and made 7 out the 14 3-point attempts. Dar scored 19 points.

In the final game of December, the Knights traveled to Gateway (Conn.) and capped off the month with a close 80-72 win. The game was in Gateway’s hands after the first half, up on NECC 35-25. This didn’t stop the Knights though, who scored 55 points in the 2nd half to get the win. Morales scored 21 points and made 100% of his free throws.

The Knights play 10 games in January, 6 home and 4 away.

Sports

Knights win at home vs Southern Maine

 

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.

Sports

Lynch helps Knights in big season

 

The Knights basketball team is off to an undeniably hot start. Since NECC is located in Massachusetts, most of the team is from the same state. There is one player, though, that is from the neighboring state of New Hampshire.

Matt Lynch, a Business Administration major from Plaistow, N.H., is in his second year at NECC and playing in his second season for the basketball team. He had not played any organized basketball in Mass. until last season.

“I played Varsity Basketball at Timberlane Regional High School. My senior year (I helped) the Owls bring home their first win of the season versus Keene after starting 0 and 17 … we also put an end to the historic 81 game Division I losing streak,” Lynch said.

With the 11-4 start that the Knights have worked up to, some might call the great record surprising or even attribute it to luck. That’s not what the Knights believe: they expect to win every game on the schedule.

“Not one player on this team is surprised by our hot start. We’re surprised we’ve even lost. Every game we have at least three or four guys step up to make plays and contribute to our winning success,” Lynch said.

“All 12 of us are playing this game to add another basketball banner to our gymnasium.”

After the first couple weeks of the season, the team had to adapt when Assistant Coach Joe Tardif stepped into the head coaching position. Since Tardif took over, the team has not lost a step and have garnered a winning record in his time so far.

“Coach Tardif has handled the head coach position exceedingly well and continues to be a role model and great influence in all of our lives on and off court,” Lynch said.

Under Tardif, Lynch might have played his best game of the season on the road against Springfield Tech. He hit three 3-pointers, shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, scored 15 points and recorded 5 assists and 2 rebounds. This, all while coming off the bench.

“My ultimate goal for school and basketball is to graduate from NECC on the dean’s list and win a championship with my teammates,” Lynch said.

Lynch is also entertaining the idea of transferring to a four-year university at the end of the school year. He says he will be going to Salem State University to play basketball for the Vikings.

Lynch may be moving on after the year but he has only good things to say about NECC and the Knights.

“My basketball shining moment has been here at NECC developing skills, mental toughness and building character and values which I’ve acquired from the coaching staff. It was a tough transition into my freshman year from playing basketball for a public New Hampshire high school, to understanding, learning and training for the extremely fast-paced game style we run here at NECC. Now, as a sophomore, I realize it was worth every damn second.”

Sports

NECC Knights on the right track to a successful 2015-2016 season

 

On Tuesday Nov. 17, the Knights basketball squad took on Massasoit Community College, in their first game of the season not coached by Darren Stratton. Stratton was placed on administrative leave after gambling charges, so Assistant Coach Joe Tardif took the head.

Massasoit started the scoring. It took 2-and-a-half minutes and a Matthew Jameson layup for the Knights to get on the board. After they got their opening points, they seemed to stay on track. The Knights came up big soon after with a crisp pass-around-the-court play where the ball ended up in Dominic Dar’s hands; he finished it off with a basket.  At the half, the Knights were up 42-39.

The court seemed a little more quiet without Stratton coaching from the side. This did not deter the Knights’ efforts, however, as Tardif kept NECC on track.

The rest of the game was really close, reaching 71-71 with five minutes left in the game. The Knights ended up losing 82-78.

Thankfully, NECC had another opportunity to win at home that Saturday when they faced UConn at Avery Point, and that’s just what they did. The Knights had points coming from all angles that afternoon: Jameson scored 19 points himself, Bryan Morales nabbed 13 and Julio Vicente picked up 12.

The Knights play five games in December, only one home game.

December schedule: Tuesday Dec. 1 @ Roxbury, Thursday Dec. 3 @ Bunker Hill, Saturday Dec. 5 @ Springfield Tech, Thursday Dec. 10 vs. Southern Maine Community College, Saturday Dec. 12 @ Gateway (CT).

Sports

The Knights are road warriors

 

All of the NECC Knights basketball team’s losses have been at home, while they have gone undefeated during away games with a record of 4-0.

The Knight’s season started off on the road for 2 games, with an opener at NHTI and a game two days later at Great Bay.

At NHTI, the Knights posted a 91-68 score to win their first game of the season. Matthew Jameson led the scoring with 18 points. Andres Hernandez scored 17 points and Dominic Dar scored 13. NECC hit 50 percent of their 3-point attempts and racked up 51 rebounds, 14 of them came from Jonathan Paulino.

Two days later, the Knights arrived in Great Bay and brought their best game, winning 105-55. It was a very impressive early season win. They scored 59 points in the 1st half alone. Dar scored 14 and Paulino kept the rebound train chugging with 15 on the game.

The early road wins put NECC in a good position to keep their record moving up and have made a good foundation for later in the season.

Knights player Julio Vicente spoke about the team doing well on the road.

“I think we’re good on the road … I feel like my team is more focused when we are on our way over to the games. I just put some headphones on and I zone out.”

The Knights’ next road game was on Nov. 19 at Bristol. Coach Darren Stratton was suspended from NECC two games beforehand, so assistant coach Joe Tardif took the reins and led the Knights to their third road win of the season at Bristol. NECC won 101-93.

The Bristol game was a closer score than the other road games. The Knights scored 53 of their points in the first half. Paulino had 14 rebounds on the game. Jameson and Dar scored 22 and 23 points respectively. The scoring was more well rounded this game, with everyone getting a piece of the 101 points.

NECC’s most recent road game was at Quinsigamond, where they won 81-70 in their closest road win of the season so far. Jameson continued his domination and scored 24 points, with the next closest point-getter being Bryan Morales, who scored 16 points.

The Knights have four road games coming in December.

Sports

Coach Suspended

 

NECC Knights basketball coach Darren Stratton has been placed on administrative leave due to charges of illegal gambling pressed against him.

Stratton, 41, is facing charges of registering bets, using a telephone to register bets and conspiracy to register bets. He is among 33 defendants indicted in an alleged multimillion dollar sports betting scheme. According to Attorney General Maura Healey, the 33 defendants ran an extensive sports gambling enterprise that used an offshore, Costa Rica-based sports betting website, PerHead.com, to track bets.

The investigation by the attorney general’s office, partnered with the FBI, IRS and state police, resulted in a 122-count indictment.

“These defendants amassed a network of bettors in an enterprise that utilized an offshore betting website for their bookkeeping in an attempt to circumvent state gambling laws. We thank the Massachusetts State Police and all of the other federal, state and local agencies that assisted us in dismantling this operation,” Healey said.

According to a press release from the attorney general’s office, the suspected leader of the criminal network was John Woodman, age 43, of Braintree. Police allege that Woodman maintained a network of over 30 agents who took illegal bets from more than 700 bettors in Massachusetts.

The owner and operator of PerHead.com, Travis Prescott, was indicted as well.

Sue MacAvoy, athletic director of NECC, said that the basketball team will be “moving forward” in spite of these events.

“The main focus right now is the team,” she said.

Assistant Coach Joe Tardif has taken over in Stratton’s absence, going 4-2 over the 6 games he has coached since Stratton’s suspension.

Stratton and the other defendants were scheduled to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on Nov. 30.

Sports

Knights honor veterans

 

On Nov. 12, the NECC Knights basketball team hosted MassBay Community College for the annual Veterans Day game. The theme was in honor of Veterans Day, with American flags everywhere and plenty of veterans in attendance.

MassBay had a 3-0 record going into the game and were fired up from the start. They were gaining all the offensive and defensive rebounds and were an all-around bigger team than the Knights. Knights coach, Darren Stratton noticed his team wasn’t playing up to par and turned it around quick with his aggressive but positive coaching style, keeping his team in check.

Late in the first half, a player from MassBay was taking a free throw. The whole gymnasium was silent. Then Jordan Sands of MassBay, who was lined up for the free throw play, looked at NECC’s Felix Moore and said a certain four letter expletive that got him ejected from the game.

After the ejection, NECC’s Dominic Dar got a free throw of his own and tied the game 33-33 with seven and a half minutes left in the first. The Sands ejection completely turned the game around for the Knights.

Moore hit a couple 3-pointers and the Knights went up 56-47 at halftime.

At the half, Athletic Director Sue MacAvoy took to the court and honored the veterans in attendance. These veterans included Charles H. Boule, Richard Jameson and Samson Racioppi.

When the second half began, it looked a lot like the beginning of the first. It was all MassBay — and they even tied the game at 65 after seven minutes of play. Coach Stratton got his players back on track though and MassBay’s heat cooled down a lot.

NECC’s Matthew Jameson began scoring big points, including some three-pointers; he then recorded a huge steal and scored with seven and a half minutes remaining which all but sealed up the game.

The Knights beat MassBay, 99-91, boosting their record to 3-1 on the season.

Sports

Cross Country Wrap-Up

 

The NECC cross country season ended on Nov. 7 at the Division III National Meet in Holyoke, Mass. 42 teams competed, with over 300 runners from around the country including Georgia, Michigan and Illinois.

NECC’s lone runner, Leah Finnegan, ran a time of 26:16 — a season best for her, beating her previous best by 2 minutes.

“It was a great way to end the season, our first in a while,” said coach Thomas Bradley.

This was the cross country team’s first season in 7 years. Coach Bradley was the driving force behind the comeback, recruiting Finnegan, Jared Shepard, Austin Thiele and Sara Wulff.

“We had four team members this season and I thank them all for helping to launch Cross Country again. Getting Leah, Jared, Austin and Sara back next year would be a solid foundation to build on,” said Bradley.

If you are interested in running cross country next season, contact Sue MacAvoy at smacavoy@necc.mass.edu or Thom Bradley at tbradley@necc.mass.edu.

Sports

Coach Bradley undergoes surgery

 

Coach Thomas Bradley, who coaches the cross country team at NECC, was in need of major surgery during the season but decided to get it done in the offseason so he could continue coaching. He finally went through the procedure on Friday, Nov. 13.

He came to Northern Essex and revived the program after 7 long years without the sport. Bradley grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., graduated from the Military Academy at West Point and served as a Captain in the U.S. Army for 5 years.

For 35 years now he has been coaching multiple sports at different schools in New England, but his favorite is cross country.

On behalf of the NECC community, the staff at the Observer would like to wish him a quick recovery.

Sports

Knights basketball off to a 4-2 start

 

Last season, the NECC Knights basketball team ended the season with a record of 12-16, leaving much to be desired.

This season, the Knights are off to a fast 4-2 start. They opened the season at NHTI with a 91-68 win. Matthew Jameson was the top scorer with 18 points, with Andres Hernandez and Dominic Dar right behind scoring 17 and 13 points respectively. Jameson also scored five three-pointers.

In the second game of the season, the Knights faced Great Bay Community College at Great Bay. There was more all-around scoring in this game, with everyone getting a piece of the pie. Dar scored a team-high 14 points. The Knights got the “W,” beating Great Bay 105-55.

The first two games saw the Knights greatly improve on last season’s rebound problem, which coach Darren Stratton stressed the importance of in the preseason. There were 51 total rebounds between the two games, with Jonathan Paulino having 29 of them.

The first loss of the season happened at the Knights home opener against Dean College. They lost 103-83. Jameson kept rolling though, scoring five three-pointers and 20 points in the game.

The Knights got back on track after their first loss, beating Daniel Webster 89-62 at home. NECC got off to a good start getting up 20-9 halfway through the first. Daniel Webster had some passionate fans at the game who were cheering in the first half but by the second half the Eagles were down 54-24 and stayed down by 30 points for most of the remainder of the game. The Knights showed their growing defensive ability all game long. Paulino had 13 rebounds and Julio Vicente had 5 steals.

NECC then went on to beat MassBay Community College on Veterans day, 99-91, in their closest game of the season. Jameson scored 19 points and Bryan Morales scored 18. In addition, Morales hit four three-pointers.

On Saturday, Nov. 14, the Knights fell to Holyoke Community College, 87-82. Hernandez scored 20 points in the losing effort.

The Knights upcoming games are: Nov. 17 vs. Massasoit, Nov. 19 at Bristol Community College, Nov. 21 vs. UConn at Avery Point and Nov. 24 at Quinsigamond Community College.