WALTHAM, Mass. – After locking up one of five slots from the Northeast Division for the upcoming Northeast-10 Conference Men's Basketball Championships, the Bentley University Falcons will look to take one more step when they close out the regular season Tuesday night at Franklin Pierce University (7:30 pm, https://boxcast.tv/view/basketball-vs-bentley-448445)

A victory over the Ravens would assure the Falcons of either a first-round home game, if Stonehill wins at Saint Anselm, or a first-round bye if Stonehill loses. If the latter holds true, Bentley would travel to Saint Rose Sunday for a quarterfinal game.

Should Franklin Pierce win, Bentley would either be the fourth seed (if Assumption upsets Southern New Hampshire) or the fifth seed (if SNHU wins). The Ravens' only chance at a postseason berth is a win over Bentley and a loss by Southern New Hampshire.

Bentley, which has secured its 22nd winning record in the last 23 seasons, will make the trip to Franklin Pierce riding its first winning streak in more than three months after dispatching St. Michael's and Merrimack in the final two home games of the regular season.

In the 72-54 win over the Warriors Saturday, Bentley allowed only 15 first-half points and matched its season-best for fewest points given up. The Falcons closed the opening stanza with a 23-1 run over the final 10:20 and after Merrimack pulled within two in the second half, strung together a 19-3 burst.

Sophomore forward Chris Hudson (Hodgdon, Maine/Northampton Williston School) powered the Falcons with 23 points and six rebounds as he continued his string of strong performances. Over the last ten games, he's averaged 17.4 points and six rebounds with shooting marks of .580 overall, .550 from three (11-20) and .917 at the line (33-36).

For the season, Hudson is third in the NE10 in field goal percentage (.575) while averaging 13.2 points and six rebounds.

Junior guard Ryan Richmond (Toronto, Ont./Thomson Collegiate), the number three scorer in the NE10 at 22.7, is 33 points away from joining Jason Westrol and Bill Holden as the only Falcons with two 600-point seasons. His scoring average is the second highest in program history, trailing only Ray Andersen's 22.8 nearly a half-century ago.

Senior forward Brandon Wheeler (Stamford, Conn./Trinity HS) is coming off his most productive game of the season as he scored a season-best 16 without missing a shot and completed his 14th career double-double with 11 rebounds. He leads the team in both rebounds (7.3) and steals (34).

Bentley's top six also includes junior forward Zach Gilpin (Hampden, Maine/Hampden Academy), sophomore guard Seth Stankiewicz (Reading, Pa./Hill School) and freshman guard Jordan Mello-Klein (Sharon/Thayer Academy), all of whom have shot well from three this season.

Franklin Pierce had won four of five before losing to Southern New Hampshire 96-66 on Saturday. At home, the Ravens have been 4-1 since mid-January, including a win over Saint Anselm.

All five starters own double-digit scoring averages and have three-point range for the Ravens with six-foot-eight senior Mike McDevitt at the top of the list at 16.6. He's knocked down 32 of 66 from deep this season with his .485 accuracy mark a conference best.

Sophomore guard Doyin Fadojutimi follows with a 13.2 scoring average and is one of only two NE10 players with at least 30 blocks and 30 steals.

The earlier meeting between the two teams was all Bentley with the Falcons scoring 62 first-half points en route to a 105-69 victory. Richmond scored 23, Stankiewicz added 19 off the bench and the Falcons were 15 of 32 from deep.