Offense Struggles as Knights Fall to Riverland in National Quarterfinal
The second seeded Northern Essex Community College men’s basketball team struggled on the offensive side of the ball on Thursday evening as they fell to Riverland (MN) in a national quarterfinal by a 71-59 final score in a game in which the Knights never had a lead.
Herkimer, NY (March 14, 2024) – The second seeded Northern Essex Community College men's basketball team struggled on the offensive side of the ball on Thursday evening as they fell to Riverland (MN) in a national quarterfinal by a 71-59 final score in a game in which the Knights never had a lead. With the loss, the Knights fall to 31-2 and are eliminated from national championship contention and will take on Minnesota North-Rainy River on Friday at 2:00pm in a consolation game, for the right to advance to Saturday's fifth place game.
NECC shot just 27% from the floor in the first half and trailed by 11 points at the half 37-26. In the early minutes of the second half NECC would trail by as many 14 points before surging back to cut the deficit to two points at 50-48 with just under eight minutes remaining but couldn't get any closer.
Kyoya Sasaki (Tokyo, Japan) finished with a team high 17 points on six of 11 shooting from the floor. Luis Reynoso (Lawrence) finished with a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Gabe Zorilla (Lawrence) had a strong effort off the bench for NECC as he contributed 10 points to go along with nine rebounds.
For the game, the Knights finished shooting at 33.3% (23-69) while shooting just one of 18 from three point range.