WALTHAM, Mass. – With first place in the Northeast-10 Conference on the line, a spinning lay-up by junior guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS) and  a three-point play by graduate guard Brian Wright-Kinsey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooks School) fueled a game-ending 8-2 run and gave Bentley University a 77-71 win over Saint Anselm College in men's college basketball Wednesday night at the Dana Center.

Bentley, ranked 14^th in Division II, improved to 16-2 overall and 11-2 NE10 while moving ahead of the Hawks in the standings. Saint Anselm, which overcame a 24-point second-half deficit to forge a late tie, dropped to 14-5 overall and 10-3 conference.

Graduate guard Mason Webb (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness HS) led Bentley with 24 points, the third time in four games he's established a new season scoring high, and ten rebounds. Graduate forward Matt Leritz (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS) followed with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

Bentley led 69-56 after Webb, a 94 percent foul shooter, made two free throws with 4:10 to play. Saint Anselm ran off the next 13 points, tying the game at 69 all with 1:30 to play. Senior guard Miles Tension (Palo Alto, Calif.), who finished with a game-high 28, accounted for the final ten points, including a straightaway three-ball for the tie.

Laput gave Bentley the lead back with 1:09 remaining and after a Hawk turnover, Wright-Kinsey drove for a basket, was fouled and made the free throw for the traditional three-point play. Saint Anselm missed two from the line with 25.1 seconds and Webb secured the win by hitting three of four free throws in the final 21 seconds.

Bentley got off to a rough start, falling behind 14-6 before the contest was five minutes old. Following a timeout, the Falcons scored eight in a row to tie it with the run beginning with three-balls from senior guard Kellen Bochenek (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont HS) and Leritz.

That 8-0 spurt grew into a 33-5 blitzing and Bentley went into the halftime break up 20, 39-19. Webb had 14 in the half, including a quartet of three-pointers, and the Falcons limited the Hawks to only eight baskets in 30 attempts. That included a 6-for-8, meaning the visitors misfired on 20 of their last 22 shots in the first.

Following Webb's fifth three-ball of the night with 8:41 on the clock, Bentley had a 61-39 lead.  Saint Anselm scored the game's next 11 points and the lead was cut in half, 61-50, two-and-a-half minutes later. The teams traded baskets for the next couple minutes until Saint Anselm's late 13-0 run.

Webb, who had 20 against Assumption and 21 against New Haven last Wednesday, made five of his eight attempts from downtown and seven of eight from the line.

Joining Webb and Leritz in doubles were Laput and Wright-Kinsey, each with ten. Laput also had eight rebounds and three assists, and Wright-Kinsey had seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks.

Bentley had the overall shooting advantage (45-41 percent), although the Hawks shot 53 percent in the second half, and both teams were 9 of 23 from downtown. The Falcons only turned the ball over six times, but four came late and reduced their advantage in points off turns to 16-9. Defensively, Bentley had eight steals and five blocks.

Saint Anselm finished with a 42-37 rebound advantage, with six-foot-six junior Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.) collecting 18, and outscored the Falcons 13-2 on second chance points.

Bentley's next game is Saturday at Southern Connecticut State.