PLAYOFF PREVIEW: Men’s basketball earns top seed, Women to play CCRI
The Northern Essex Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams are prepared to kick off the Region 21 post-season this week. The men, currently ranked #8 nationally have earned the tournaments top seed for a third straight season, while the women have earned a spot in the semi-finals for a second consecutive season.
Haverhill, MA (February 25, 2025) – The Northern Essex Community College men's and women's basketball teams are prepared to kick off the Region 21 post-season this week. The men, currently ranked #8 nationally have earned the tournaments top seed for a third straight season, while the women have earned a spot in the semi-finals for a second consecutive season.
MEN:
The Knights will kick off their post-season run on Wednesday night, entering the post-season with a 25-3 overall record, 20-2 in conference play when they play host to eighth seeded UConn Avery Point at 6:30pm on the Haverhill campus.
NECC swept a pair of regular season games from the Pointers on November 21st 98-67 and most recently on February 15th 109-90. A win on Wednesday night would send the Knights to the tournament final four, hosted by CCRI in Warwick on Saturday and Sunday. The winner of Wednesday's matchup would play at 4:00pm Saturday against the winner of Bristol and Roxbury. Sunday's championship game is set for 3:15pm.
Heading into the post-season the Knights are led by a pair of double digit scorers in Alejandro Delgado (Haverhill) and Javiel Kirmil (Lowell) who are averaging 14.5 and 12.6 points per game.
As a team, the Knights are currently scoring 90.5 points per game, while holding the opponent to 70.
The back to back Region 21 champions, the Knights were the first team to win back to back titles in 23 years and will look to become only the second program in region history to win three consecutive championships when Mattatuck (CT) Community College won three straight from 1986-88.
The tournament winner will advance to the national tournament in Herkimer, NY.
WOMEN:
With their win over Bunker Hill last Monday, the Knights secured the final spot in the four-team women's Region 21 tournament. The Knights will face top seeded and tournament host CCRI on Saturday (1:15pm) in Warwick.
The semi-final matchup will be a rematch of last seasons regional championship game which CCRI was victorious. CCRI also capture both regular season meetings during the current campaign. The winner will advance to the championship game on Sunday at 1:00pm.
The Knights will enter the tournament with a 10-11 overall record and 7-6 in conference play.
NECC will go into the tournament led by the nations second leading scorer in freshman Rhaelyn Gutierrez (Methuen) who heads into the post-season averaging 28.7 points per game. A first team all-region selection a season ago, Mirelys Morales (Dracut) is second on the team in scoring with 17.6 points per game.
The tournament winner will advance to the women's national tournament in Rochester, MN.