The Northern Essex Community College men’s basketball team is preparing to pick up where they left off before the break. The Knights have a perfect 13-0 record and are ranked number two in the country in the first NJCAA Basketball weekly poll of the new year.

Darren Stratton picked up 300th win as Head Coach

Also, in the first part of the season, HoopDirt.com named head coach Darren Stratton the Week 4 JUCO National Coach of the Week, which makes him eligible for consideration at the end of the season for JUCO National Coach of the Year honors. He also picked up his 300th win as head coach– spanning 21 seasons.

On the court, Lawrence’s Luis Reynoso leads the team, averaging a double-double per game with 17.8 points and 13.7 rebounds per game, which currently ranks fourth in the NJCAA. Freshman center Karl Wolfgang (Douala, Cameroon) was named the NJCAA Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week ending November 26th.

Karl Wolfgang was named the NJCAA Men’s Basketball Player of the Week

The Knights are hoping to build on their success last season, in which they placed 5th in the NJCAA National Tournament.

Though the spring semester starts on January 22, the Knights will resume play this Friday, January 12, at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, NY.

The Knights will play their first home game of the year on Tuesday, January 16, versus the University of Connecticut at Avery Point. All home games are live-streamed on the NECC YouTube Channel.

Learn more about athletics at NECC by visiting the webpage or by contacting the Director of Athletics, Dan Blair.