SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Senior guard John Brandt (Pawtucket, R.I./Wheeler School) broke a 62-all tie with 16.7 seconds left and Bentley University went on to advance in the 2010 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Elite Eight with a hard-fought 67-64 win over Augusta State University Wednesday night at the MassMutual Center.

Bentley, 26-6, reaches the national semifinals for the second time in three years and will take on another 26-6 team, Cal Poly Pomona, Thursday night at 8:30 pm with the winner advancing to Saturday's national championship game.  The Broncos had a much easier quarterfinal game, cruising to a 69-48 win over St. Joseph's (Ind.) in a contest they led by as many as 33.

"From our perspective, and just talking out there in the hallway, that was an awfully rough game," said Bentley coach Jay Lawson, 13-3 in the NCAA tournament over the last four seasons. "We were outrebounded by 25 boards (53-28) and won. So we had a chuckle about that."

The battle between the Falcons and the Jaguars went right down to the wire. Bentley went into the final minute up three, 62-59, but that lead vanished when senior guard Daniel Dixon (Falls Church, Va.) picked off a pass in the backcourt and almost immediately buried a three-ball from the left wing with 49.7 seconds.  It turned out to be the only basket of the night for Dixon in 12 attempts, all but one from outside the arc.

Senior guard and 2010 NABC Division II Player of the Year Jason Westrol (Brielle, N.J./ Manasquan HS), who led the Falcons with 23 points despite an off-shooting night, held the ball out while running the clock down. As he began to drive, he kicked the ball over to Brandt on the left wing, and his classmate delivered.

"That's the shot that you dream of, and I was able to hit it," said Brandt.

Westrol, in praise of his teammate, said "Big players make big plays, and that's what John did."

Dixon missed a three on the ensuing possession, junior Frank Ndongo (Yadunde, Cameroon) collected his team's 20th offensive board of the night and put it up with 6.5 seconds, reducing the Bentley advantage to one at 65-64.

The ball was inbounded to Westrol, who was promptly fouled. He had missed four of his previous five from the line, but this time was money, burying both with :05.5 on the clock to restore the lead to three. The Jags got the ball downcourt to Dixon, but his potential game-tying three was off the mark. Senior All-America Ben Magden (Williamstown, Australia) claimed the board, but the horn sounded before he could release another three-point attempt.

The two clubs went into the halftime break even at 26-26 with Augusta's 30-11 rebounding advantage countered by the Falcons committing only two turnovers, seven fewer than the Jags.  Both clubs shot the same, 35.5 percent.

Bentley got off to a solid start, opening a 17-12 lead after eight-plus minutes. Augusta turned the difference around with a 12-2 spurt but was held to only two free throws over the final 6:40. A drive by Westrol with 4:01 brought the Falcons within two and his 16-footer with 1:43 on the first half clock created the tie.

Westrol struggled from the field, but led all scorers with 11 points, and the Falcons got a lift off the bench from freshman guard Greg Jacques (Brockton/St. Sebastian's HS), with five points in seven minutes. Senior forward Fred Brathwaite (Columbus, Ga.) paced Augusta with eight points and senior post and William and Mary transfer Alex Smith (Greenville, S.C.) came within one of single-handedly matching Bentley's rebound total.

A three-pointer by Magden, Augusta's all-time leading scorer with over 2,300 points, staked Augusta to the early lead after play resumed. The Jags remained in front until junior forward Brian Tracey (Bow Mar, Colo./Heritage HS) knocked down a top-of-the-key three a little more than five minutes into the second.

That came during a 19-7 Bentley burst that put the Falcons up nine, 49-40 with 9:18 left. Brandt started the surge with a Westrol-fed lay-up, Jacques hit four free throws to make it 43-36, and junior forward Joe Fremeau (Manchester, N.H./Central HS) finished things with a three-point play the traditional way.

Down eight with 6:28 left after a Tracey foul-line jumper, Augusta wasn't done. The Jags scored the next six, the last two when a goaltending was called on Smith's lay-up, and the difference was reduced to three with 5:23 left.

Three-pointers by Brandt and Westrol, sandwiched around a Smith basket, restored the lead to seven, 59-52 with 3:41, but the Georgia school still wasn't done. A Brathwaite triple with 2:03 to play made it a one-point game at 60-59, and Tracey pushed it back to three with a reverse lay-up, after being fed by Westrol, with 1:47 on the clock.

Augusta, 29-4, came into the game shooting at a 50 percent clip for the season, but was held to just 36 percent by the Falcon D. Just as importantly, the Jags attempted only 16 free throws, more than a dozen below their season-norm.

"We don't hide the fact that we help a lot and defend as a team. I like to think that it was our style of defense that hurt them," said Lawson.  "We were fortunate no one got going from outside."

His counterpart from Augusta, Dip Metress, agreed. "They switched some things. They did a great job inside of dislodging our post players."

Bentley, on the other hand, shot 54 percent in the second half, boosting the game's accuracy mark to .439, and doubled the Jags in three-pointers made, 8-4. Lawson's club also took exceptional care of the ball, committing only nine turnovers.

Westrol, in addition to 23 points, provided five rebounds, five assists and a couple steals. Tracey followed with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Fourteen of those came after intermission, and he also contributed eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. Jacques had nine points, setting a career-high for the second straight game, and Brandt finished with eight, none bigger than the final three.

"Greg was outstanding," said Lawson. He's been playing very well since we put him in the rotation during the Regional."

Smith had a huge game for Augusta, closing out his career with a 21-point, 16-rebound effort. Magden followed with 13, but was just 5-of-17 from the floor.

"We left everything out on the floor, and we made it to the final four," concluded an elated Westrol.