RINDGE, N.H. -- Graduate student Mike Quinn (Oakdale, Conn./Montville HS) matched his season-high with 16 points, including the 1,000th of his career, and senior forward Brian Tracey (Bow Mar, Colo./Heritage HS) finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season as Bentley University clinched a share of the Northeast-10 Conference  men's basketball regular season championship.  It's the sixth time in seven years that coach Jay Lawson's team has finished at the top of the conference.

The 74-59 win over Franklin Pierce University Saturday afternoon at the FPU Fieldhouse boosted the Falcons to 19-6 overall and 17-4 NE-10, and kept Bentley a game up on second-place Stonehill College with one to play. Ironically, that one is at Stonehill Wednesday evening (7:30 pm). American International, which began the day tied with second with Stonehill, saw its title hopes end with a 69-63 loss at Adelphi.

Bentley was firmly in control of this one almost from the start as two 9-0 spurts in the first 13 minutes produced a 30-16 lead. The first, which made it 13-4 after five-and-a-half minutes, included four points from sophomore forward Dan O'Keefe (Lexington, Mass./Lexington HS).

The second was capped by five straight points from sophomore guard Greg Jacques (Brockton, Mass./St. Sebastian's HS), and gave Bentley a 14-point advantage with seven minutes still to play in the opening half. Jacques finished with five points, five rebounds and six assists off the bench.

On top 33-20, Bentley broke the game wide-open with a ten-minute long, 25-8 explosion sandwiched around halftime. That made it a commanding 30 point spread, 58-28 with 14 minutes on the block. That run included a 10-2 spurt to finish the first half with a 43-22 advantage and a 15-6 surge once play resumed.

Bentley's final points of the first half came on a four-point play by Quinn with 25.8 seconds on the clock. He buried a triple from the right wing for numbers 998,999 and 1000, and then tacked on a free throw after being fouled on the shot. He became the third member of this year's senior class to reach 1,000, and the 48th in the program's history.

The final spread of 15, achieved with a game-ending 18-6 run by the Ravens, marked as close as the two teams would come over the final 22:30.

Tracey did most of his scoring early, with nine points in the first eight minutes. Quinn knocked down four of seven three-pointers and also provided three rebounds and three assists. O'Keefe was the team's third double-figure scorer, finishing with 10 points off the bench. Senior forward Joe Fremeau (Manchester, N.H./Central HS) added seven points, six rebounds and two blocks.

Senior guard Jeff Manchester (Gorham, Maine) led Franklin Pierce (6-20, 4-17 NE-10) with 16 points, all coming in the second half.

Bentley outshot the Ravens 43-39 percent, had a 10-6 edge in three-pointers and had a plus-eight rebounding advantage, 44-36.

At Rindge, N.H. (The Fieldhouse)

BENTLEY 74, FRANKLIN PIERCE 59

BENTLEY (19-6, 17-4 NE-10) -- Brian Tracey 7-17 1-2 17; Mike Quinn 5-10 2-3 16; Dan O'Keefe 5-6 0-1 10; Joe Fremeau 2-2 3-6 7; Tom Dowling 2-9 1-2 6; Sam Leclerc 2-5 1-2 6; Jasper Grassa 2-5 0-0 5; Greg Jacques 2-7 0-0 5; Kevin Kettl 1-4 0-0 2; Mike Topercer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-65 8-16 74.

FRANKLIN PIERCE (6-20, 4-17 NE-10) -- Jeff Manchester 6-11 0-0 16; A. Vourliotakis-Pero 5-9 0-2 10; Dayshawn Long 3-6 2-4 8; Kinard Dozier 2-7 2-2 7; Eric Jean-Guillaume 2-12 1-1 6; Jason Pranulis 2-2 0-0 4; Adedamola Abu 2-5 0-0 4; Nigel Van Oostrum 2-4 0-0 4; Matt Barboza 0-3 0-0 0; Paul Dick 0-1 0-0 0; Josh Jones 0-0 0-0 0; Andre Blackwood 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-61 5-9 59.

Halftime: B 43-22; 3-point goals--B 10-28 (Quinn 4-7; Tracey 2-5; Dowling 1-5; Jacques 1-3; Leclerc 1-4; Grassa 1-3; O'Keefe 0-1), FP 6-18 (Manchester 4-5; Jean-Guillaume 1-7; Dozier 1-3; Barboza 0-1; Dick 0-1; Long 0-1). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--B 44 (Tracey 10), FP 36 (Vourliotakis-Pero 9). Assists--B 19 (Jacques 6), FP 16 (Long 4). Total fouls--B 12, FP 15. Technical fouls--Franklin Pierce bench.