WALTHAM, Mass. – After emerging from a three-point shootout with Stonehill College with an 89-84 semifinal victory, the Bentley University Falcons will turn their attention to a team known for defense when they host Southern New Hampshire University Saturday in the 2016 Northeast-10 Conference Men's Basketball Championship game at the Dana Center. The opening tip is scheduled for 1 pm with a free webcast available at www.northeast10.tv.

Bentley, the regular season champion in the NE-10's Northeast Division, will be appearing in the title game for the ninth time overall with its most recent coming in 2011. The Falcons own three championships, most recently in 2007 and 2008 when they went back-to-back.

Southern New Hampshire, the Northeast's fourth seed and the reigning East Region champion, is a finalist for the fourth time in their 16 years in the conference and owns one championship (2013). Over the last five years, the Penmen are the only team to reach the final twice.

Bentley will enter the final with a three-game winning streak and a 21-7 record while SNHU is 21-10 with four straight wins, including three against two of the region's top teams (Saint Anselm in 2 OT at home, and road victories at Southern Connecticut and Saint Anselm).

The Bentley-Stonehill semifinal featured 33 three-pointers with both clubs shooting over 50 percent from three. The Falcons took charge with a 12-0 run midway through the second half and went on to notch their fifth straight home win.

In the other semi, during a battle with their intercity rival, SNHU limited Saint Anselm to just 59 points, about 27 below their season norm, and only three triples in 22 attempts from deep in a 16-point victory.

The two conference finalists met twice during the regular season with both games going in Bentley's favor, 93-77 at home back in December and 85-78 up in Manchester Feb. 10. The Falcons shot very well in the two contests, 56 percent overall and 21 of 41 from three-point land. Meanwhile, SNHU was limited to 13 of 40 from downtown.

Bentley was led by the duo of Tyler McFarland (Rockport, Maine/Camden Hills HS) and Keegan Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS), who averaged 26.5 and 25.0 points, respectively, with both knocking down six three-pointers. Rodney Sanders, a senior who leads Division II in three-point shooting, had 33 and 30 for SNHU in the two games, shooting .605 overall against the Falcons.

The above three all earned All-Northeast-10 honors as did SNHU red-shirt sophomore forward Chris Walters. McFarland and Sanders were both first-team selections, Hyland was voted to the second team and Walters was a third-teamer.    

McFarland will enter the game 23 points away from Bill Holden's all-time Bentley record of 2,103 after scoring 28 in the semis. His effort against Stonehill propelled him into the NE-10 scoring lead at 22.9 ppg, and he notched his second straight double-double as well. During the current three-game homestand, the Academic All-America® has averaged 24.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.

Hyland, a first-team Academic All-America for the second straight year, owns averages of 20.7 points and 7.5 rebounds, ranking second to McFarland in both categories. During the last dozen games, he's elevated his scoring to 25.3 while sending 45 three balls through the net.

Six-foot-six guard Alex Furness (Wells, Maine/Wells HS) follows with a 14.0 average while leading the team in three-pointers (76) and accuracy from downtown (.475). He's also been outstanding from the foul stripe, hitting 51 of 55 (.927).

Sophomore forward Brandon Wheeler (Stamford, Conn./Trinity Catholic HS) and junior guard Ferguson Duke (Dartmouth, N.S./Hun School (N.J.)) have also been solid in the first two NE-10 postseason contests. Duke has averaged 12.5 points and shot .556 with five three-pointers. Wheeler scored a career-best 19 in the quarters and is 9 of 14 from the floor in the two games.

 Sanders and Walters top the scoring list for Southern New Hampshire, averaging 19.6 and 17.7 points, respectively. Sanders, in addition to leading the conference in three-point percentage and being fifth in scoring, is number two in the conference in threes made (91), third in steals (48) and fourth in free throw shooting (.880).

Walters has made 56 percent of his two-point attempts this season and has lived at the foul line, his 217 attempts 56 more than anyone else in the conference has.

Senior forward BJ Cardarelli  and junior forward Devin Gilligan also score in doubles for the Penmen with Cardarelli at 12.1 and Gilligan 10.8.

This will be the fourth time that the Falcons and Penmen will meet in the conference championships with the home team having prevailed in each of the first three. Bentley won in the 2002 quarterfinals (88-74) and the 2005 semis (105-85) while SNHU claimed the win in the 2004 semis (75-61).

The winner will receive an automatic berth to next week's NCAA Division II East Regional with the complete field scheduled to be announced on NCAA.com at 10:30 pm Sunday night.