WALTHAM, Mass. – Junior guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS) scored 26 points in only 23:42, powering Bentley University to an 87-48 wire-to-wire win over The College of Saint Rose in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball Wednesday night at the Dana Center.

Bentley's win, coupled with Saint Anselm's two-point loss at Assumption, transformed the top of the conference standings from a three-way deadlock to a two-way tie, the Falcons and Southern New Hampshire, with two to play. Coach Jay Lawson's team, ranked 22^nd in Division II this week, moved to within one win of 20, 19-4 overall and 14-4 NE10. Saint Rose dropped to 9-17 overall and 3-15 conference.

Bentley established itself from the start, opening a 15-2 lead as all five starters scored in the five minutes. Included were threes from graduate forward Matt Leritz (St. Louis, Mo./St. Lous University HS), junior guard Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS) and graduate guard Brian Wright-Kinsey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooks School).

After the Golden Knights closed to within nine, the Falcons used a 14-2 run to push the lead to 21 (35-14) with 3:48 left in the opening half. At intermission, it was 47-18 and Laput had 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

It was an 18-1 blitzing over the first 9:20 of the second half with Bentley more than tripling the visitors, 65-19. That explosion began with Laput scoring the game's first nine points after play resumed.

Laput completed his scoring  for the night with two free throws with 15:17 left. At that juncture, he had outscored Saint Rose, 26-19.

The Northeast-10 scoring leader made 11 of his 15 shots, including two of three from deep, and also had six points and two assists.

Laput was the only Falcon to score in doubles but five of his teammates scored nine and Leritz collected 11 rebounds. Wright-Kinsey, Latham, graduate guard Mason Webb (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness HS), senior guard Kellen Bochenek (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont HS) and freshman guard Cash McClure (Readville, Maine/Maranacook HS) were the five with nine.

For Saint Rose, junior forward Josh McGettigan (Southbury, Conn.) scored 20 points, ten in each half.

As expected, Bentley dominated the statistics. That included .525-.340 in field goal percentage, 9-3 in three-pointers, 44-27 in rebounds, 21-6 in points off turnovers and 16-0 in second-chance points.

Bentley's final road game of the regular season is Saturday at Franklin Pierce and the final home game will be against American International Tuesday.