PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Junior guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS) scored 20 points and graduate forward Matt Leritz (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS) followed with 15 as Bentley University recorded its fourth wire-to-wire win of the season, 73-67 over Pace University in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball Tuesday night at the Goldstein Athletics Center.

Bentley, number 20 in this week's NABC Division II coaches poll, ran its record to 7-1 overall and 3-1 NE10 after earning its fourth consecutive W. Pace, which had been unbeaten at home, fell to 6-3 overall and 4-1 at home with its third loss in four conference games.

It was a fast start for Coach Jay Lawson's team, 11-1 before the game was three minutes old. Junior guard Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS) drained a left corner three, Leritz scored an inside basket and Laput netted the next six. He converted an old-fashioned three-point play before sinking a straightaway three.

Bentley led by as many as 15 in the half before going into the break up 11, 38-27. Laput (14) and Leritz (8) combined for 22 of the first-half points.

After the Setters scored nine of the first 11 second-half points, Bentley pushed the advantage to 20, 60-40, with about 10:20 remaining. Leritz had seven during the 20-4 run, Webb buried two triples and both Laput and senior forward Isaac Martin (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross HS) each connected once from deep.

Pace closed to within seven with 100 seconds left before Latham made two key free throws with 50.1 on the clock. Bentley was eight of ten from the line in the game and is 36 of 38 from the stripe over the last three.

Laput, en route to his seventh 20-point game of the season, did most of his damage from deep as he hit five of seven treys. Leritz, in addition to scoring 15, contributed eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Also in doubles were graduate guard Mason Webb (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness HS) with 12 points on four-of-five shooting and Latham with ten, along with seven rebounds and three blocks.

For Pace, six-nine grad student Marc Dadika (Saddle Brook, N.J.) scored 18 and the Powell brothers, Brandon and Bryan, finished with 17 and 16, respectively.

Bentley shot 52 percent overall and 44 percent from outside the arc where the Falcons were 11 of 25. Pace connected at a 41 percent clip and misfired on 18 of 22 attempts from downtown.

Shooting was the difference as Pace had six fewer turnovers (6-12), one more rebound (33-32) and a 46-26 advantage in points in the paint.

Bentley's next game is at home Saturday afternoon against Adelphi University. Tip-off is set for 3:30 pm.