The No. 25 North Platte Community College men’s basketball team opens up the season this Friday as they travel to McCook to compete in the McCook Community College Fall Classic.

The Knights are ranked 25th in the NJCAA pre-season rankings. The ranking marks the second time the Knights have been ranked in the pre-season joining the No. 16 ranking before the 2009-10 season.

The Knights open on Friday November 1 as they take on the Northeast Community College Hawks at 6 p.m. in McCook. The Knights return to actionon Saturday as they take on Doane College JV at 2 p.m. also in McCook.

The Knights are coming off a school-record 30 win season and Region IX Championship. The Knights return leading scorer and rebounder Ethan Montalvo (15.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg) who was named to the All-Region IX Second-Team, the All-Region IX Tournament Team and the All-NCCAA First-Team.

Tim Simmons (10.4 ppg), Jake Maslo (4.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg), Jimma Lew (1.2 ppg), Tre’Vaun Hymer (transfer from New Mexico Junior College at Christmas) and Marcus Linson (Redshirt) also return as sophomores for the Knights. Ten new freshmen join the Knights program for the 2013-14 season.

The Knights remain on the road the following week as they travel to Garden City, Kan. to compete in the Garden City Classic on November 8 and 9. The Knights will take on Seward County Community College on Friday and the hosts Garden City Community College on Saturday.

The Knights begin a home stand of five games on Tuesday November 12 as they take on the York College JV at 7 p.m. before hosting Midland University JV and Doane College JV on November 15 and 16.