Northern Essex Community College head men’s basketball coach Darren Stratton picked up the 275th win of his career while leading the #5 nationally ranked Knights to their program record tying 14th straight win Saturday afternoon as they defeated Bristol Community College by an 88-75 final score.
With the win, Northern Essex improves to 18-1 on the season and 13-0 in conference play. It marks the third time in program history the college has reached 14 consecutive wins including most recently as last season.
In a first half that had no flow as the officials called 34 first half fouls, Northern Essex took a 40-38 lead to the locker room led by Darlin Santiago’s 11 first half points. The Knights opened things up a bit in the second half and opened the lead by as many as 18 points.
The second half charge was on the back of Luis Reynoso of Lawrence who scored 15 of his game high 19 points in the second half to go along with four second half blocks and 11 rebounds. Reynoso was joined by Jeremiah Melendez, also of Lawrence, who also finished with 19 points. Santiago finished with 16 points.
Northern Essex was scheduled to return home tonight to kick off a four game homestand as it welcomes Gateway Community College to the Sport and Fitness Center for a 6 p.m. tip-off.