Survive and Advance: Men’s basketball holds off Bristol in OT, advances to fourth straight title game

Warwick, RI (March 1, 2025) – The top seeded and #8 nationally ranked NECC men's basketball team survived an overtime scare from fourth seeded Bristol Community College on Saturday, but would eventually hold off the Bayhawks with a 93-85 overtime victory. The win improves the Knights record to 27-3 on the season and send the team Knights to their fourth straight Region 21/East District championship game.

Sunday's championship will tip at 3:15pm and the Knights will take on the winner of tonights second semi-final between Bunker Hill and Quincy.

In a tightly contested game throughout, the Knights would open a first half team of as much as 11, but the game would remain close throughout with NECC take a nine point advantage to the locker room at halftime 42-33.

The game was tied at 52 with just over 12 minutes remaining, NECC would hold a seven point advantage 65-58 at the under eight timeout but the Bayhawks would not go away and would force overtime with the score tied at 75. Christian Sanders (Boston) blocked a Bristol drive to the paint with two seconds remaining in regulation that would lead to overtime.

Ryan Pacy (Salem, NH) would be the man of the hour in overtime as he scored eight of his 16 points in the game during the extra session.

Alejandro Delgado (Haverhill) was the Knights high scorer in the contest with 20 points. Joendy Rosario (Lawrence) added 14 points off the bench to give NECC three scorers in double figures.

Sanders scored nine second half points and grabbed nine rebounds while Yuno Matsuda (Tokyo, JP) handed out five assists.

The Knights will be looking to become the first Region 21 team to win three consecutive regional titles in 37 years, when Mattatuck (CT) achieved the feat from 1986-88.