WALTHAM, Mass. – Back in sole possession of first place in the Northeast-10 Conference's Northeast Division, the Bentley University men's basketball team will begin a stretch of three road contests in a four-game span Wednesday at Southern New Hampshire University. Game time at the SNHU Fieldhouse is set for 7:30 pm.

The game will be broadcast by both NESN+ and NESN National, and will also be available online at www.snhupenmen.tv.

Bentley regained its solo hold on first in the Northeast Division on Saturday when the Falcons held off Assumption, 83-81, while nationally-ranked Saint Anselm was being upended by Merrimack.

Those results gave coach Jay Lawson's club (16-5 overall, 13-3 NE-10) a one-game lead over both Saint Anselm and Stonehill.  Stonehill dropped two back in the loss column Tuesday night when, like Saint Anselm, it fell victim to Merrimack, 91-84.

Southern New Hampshire, 15-8 overall and 11-5 NE-10, is just two games off the pace after winning its last five. The Penmen have been very good at home, winning 10 of 12, including all eight against conference opponents.

Bentley will be looking to gain a sweep of the season series with the Penmen after prevailing by 16, 93-77, at home back on Dec. 5. In that one, the Falcons shot a sparking .625 overall, made 9 of 15 from three-point land and enjoyed a 31-22 rebounding  advantage.

Bentley's top four scorers combined for 82 points that day with senior forward Tyler McFarland (Rockport, Maine/Camden Hills HS) leading the way with 26. Graduate student and CoSIDA Academic All-America® Keegan Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) followed with 21, one more than senior guard Alex Furness (Wells, Maine/Wells HS), and junior guard Ferguson Duke (Dartmouth, N.S./Hun School (N.J.)) added 15, his second biggest output of the season.

McFarland, whose 23.3 scoring average is a half-point better than the Bentley single season record of 22.8, has totaled 89 points in his last three games while shooting .596 overall, .429 from three and .947 from the line. On Saturday, in an 83-81 win over Assumption, he erupted for a career-high 36, the most by a Falcon since Jamie Baker in 1997, and surpassed 1,900 career points for his career.

Hyland's scoring average has climbed from 14.6 before the last SNHU game to 19.6, fourth highest in the NE-10. He's scored 19 or more 12 times in the last 14 games, a stretch in which he's put up 22.1 points per game with a .565 field goal percentage.

Furness, who is approaching the 1,000-point threshold (51 away), doesn't shoot as often as the above two, but when he does, he's normally on target. He's fourth nationally in three-point accuracy (.492), is shooting .507 overall and has made nearly 89 percent of his free throws. For the season, Furness is providing 14 points a game.

Duke returned to action on Saturday after missing the Falcons' previous seven. He had five against the Greyhounds and is averaging 8.8 for the season.

While Bentley has the number four three-point shooter in the conference, Southern New Hampshire has the nation's leader in senior Rodney Sanders. He'll come into Wednesday's game at .516 from deep and has made at least half of his triples in every month this season, including .578 in January. Sanders is not only very accurate from three but he also shoots them in quantity with his 2.9 triples a game tied for sixth in the NE-10.

Sanders, the number seven scorer in the conference, erupted for 33 points against Bentley back in December and is currently at 19.0 per game. Junior forward Chris Walters follows Sanders on the SNHU scoring list (17.2) and nearly averages a double-double (9.7 rebounds per game).

As a team, the Penmen lead the NBA in steals (7.6 average) and defend the three-pointer well with the opponents shooting only .339 from beyond the arc. SNHU leads the conference in free throws (16.9 a game) but in sharp contrast, no Division II team in the country fouls less than Bentley's 13 a game.

 On Saturday, Bentley will also be on the road with a 3:30 game at Franklin Pierce.