WALTHAM, Mass. – Before facing a stretch of 17 games without a game due to exams and holidays, the Bentley University men's basketball team has one more piece of business to take care off. That's a Northeast-10 Conference encounter at Merrimack College Tuesday at 7:30 pm at the Volpe Gymnasium in North Andover.

Fans who can't make the trip can view the game at http://merrimackathletics.com/watch/?Live=151&type=Live.

After a 6-1 start, Bentley will be looking to halt a stretch of back-to-back home losses, 89-80 to nationally-ranked Southern New Hampshire and 88-86 to Saint Anselm in a game that came down to a late foul call and an ensuring pair of free throws.

Merrimack, 8-3 overall and 5-1 Northeast-10, has sandwiched four-game winning streaks around a three-game losing streak. The Warriors will be playing just their third home game of the season, the first two being wins over Stonehill and Saint Anselm.

Saturday's game to Saint Anselm marked the first time this season that coach Jay Lawson's team lost with a field goal percentage over .500, but also the first time the Falcons have been outrebounded. They have won the rebounding battle seven times and had the same number in another game.

Junior guard Ryan Richmond (Toronto, Ont./Thomson Collegiate), the fourth-leading scorer in the Northeast-10 and 51 points away from 1,000 for his career, will take a 21.9 point-per-game average into Tuesday's game. He likely has fond memories of his last trip to Merrimack last February when his 25-foot three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left secured a Falcon win and a berth in the conference championship tournament.

Richmond is followed on the Bentley scoring list by junior forward Zach Gilpin (Hampden, Maine/Hampden Academy) at 13.6. He shot 57 percent in last week's games while putting up 20 points and 8 rebounds against SNHU and 18 and 9 in the Saint Anselm game.

The remainder of Bentley's usual starting five includes senior forward Brandon Wheeler (Stamford, Conn./Trinity Catholic HS) and a pair of freshman guards, Jordan Mello-Klein (Sharon/Thayer Academy) and Colton Lawrence (Myerstown, Pa./ELCO HS). Wheeler, in addition to scoring nearly eight a game, leads the team in rebounds (6.3), steals (13) and blocks (7). Mello-Klein, owner of a .613 field goal percentage, scores 10 a game and Lawrence has a 7.7 scoring norm.

After earning NE10 Rookie of the Year honors last year, sophomore guard Juvaris Hayes has picked up where he left off for Merrimack, filling the stat sheet with averages of 18.6 points, 8.5 assists, 6.6 rebounds and 3.7 steals a game. Junior forward Ryan Boulter follows with 16.5 points per game. More than half of that has come from three-point territory where he is shooting at a .508 success rate.

Following Tuesday's game, Bentley will be off until Dec. 29 when they Falcons will face Dominican (N.Y.) in the only remaining home athletic event in 2017.