WALTHAM, Mass. – With the regular season schedule down to five games remaining, the Bentley University men's basketball team will head to Southern New Hampshire University for Wednesday night's nationally televised game tied for third with Stonehill College in the Northeast Division of the Northeast-10 Conference.

The SNHU Penmen are one game back of Bentley in the standings with the Falcons 9-7 NE10 and the Penmen 8-8. Both are 12-9 overall.

Tip-off from the SNHU Gymnasium is slated for 8 pm on Fox College Sports. It will also be streamed at https://www.youtube.com/user/snhupenmen.

A Falcon victory would create some separation between the two clubs, extending Bentley's lead to two games over SNHU. It would also give coach Jay Lawson's team consecutive wins for the first time since a three-game streak in late November and early December. Since returning from the holiday break, Bentley has alternated wins, including Saturday's 87-82 decision over Assumption, and losses.

Southern New Hampshire was 9-0 after winning at Bentley back on Dec. 6, 89-80. The Penmen have endured difficulties since, dropping nine of 12, including seven of their last eight. The team's only victory in the last month took overtime, 96-94 last Wednesday against St. Michael's.

Wednesday's game features two of the top scorers in the Northeast-10 in Bentley junior guard Ryan Richmond (Toronto, Ont./Thomson Collegiate) and SNHU forward Chris Walters, a grad student. Walters leads the conference with a 24.2 average and Richmond is up to third at 22.6 after putting up 25.1 a game over the last ten contests.

Richmond had 27 in Saturday's 87-82 win over Assumption, the fifth time in the last seven games he's had that many. Over the last five, he's shot 49 percent and buried 15 of 33 from downtown.

Walters, the conference leader in minutes (38 per game) and free throws (178 attempts, 40 more than any other player), has put up 31 (vs. St. Michael's) and 35 (at Stonehll) in his last two while burying 26 free throws in as many attempts. The first of his five 30-point games came back on Dec, 6 against Bentley when he was 4-for-5 from three and 12-of-14 at the line.

Bentley has also been receiving strong scoring from sophomore forward Chris Hudson (Hodgdon, Maine/Northsmpton Willison School), who has climbed to third in the NE10 in field goal percentage (.580) after making 28 of 47 over the last four games. Last week, he had 23 at Stonehill and 19 against Assumption.

Junior guard Daquaise Andrews combines with Walters to give SNHU a prolific 1-2 scoring punch. He's eighth in the conference at 18.1 per game although his shooting has tailed off of late (21 of 65 in last four games).

The Falcons and Penmen are two of the top scoring teams in the conference with SNHU putting up 79.8 a game in NE10 contests and Bentley right behind at 79.2.

In the earlier meeting, Walters and Andrews combined for 40 of SNHU's 48 second-half points, helping the Penmen break a halftime deadlock and prevail 89-80. Junior forward Zach Gilpin (Hampden, Maine/Hampden Academy) led Bentley with 20 points and eight rebounds.

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Wednesday's game will be the first of two for Bentley in the Queen City this week as they'll be back in Manchester to take on Saint Anselm Saturday afternoon.