Bentley Hosts Franklin Pierce Saturday with Falcons Seeking 12th Straight Home Win
WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University men's basketball team will be looking for its fourth victory in five games and its 12th consecutive home court win when the Falcons take on visiting Franklin Pierce University Saturday afternoon. The 3:30 pm game will be streamed over the NE10 Now Digital Network with Bridgewater TV handling the production.
Bentley, 9-6 overall and 4-4 Northeast-10, will be looking to bounce back from Wednesday's 80-75 loss at conference-leading St. Michael's. The Falcons tripled the Purple Knights 27-9 to start and closed with a 19-8 run, but were outscored 63-29 during a 22-minute stretch in the middle of the contest.
Against the Purple Knights, sophomore guard Cash McClure (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook HS) and senior guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS) combined for 45 points for the Falcons. McClure had his best game as a collegian as he made 10 of 13 shots and finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Laput, the number two scorer in the conference, had his 10th 20-point game of the season.
Laput moved into the top 30 on Bentley's career scoring list Wednesday and with 1,361 points, is closing in on the top 25. He needs five to pass Charlie Wootton '78, six to move in front of both Alex Mavroukas '98 and Joe Hart '90, ten to overtake Jasper Grassa '14, and 13th to catch Keegan Hyland '16 for 25th all-time. His averages of 20.4 points and 6.8 rebounds are virtually identical to last season when he earned NABC Division II All-America honors.
McClure has averaged 17.4 points over his last five and is now second on the team at 12.5 a game. Right behind him are senior guard Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS) and graduate wing Kellan Bochenek (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont HS), at 12.3 and 12.1, respectively.
At home this season, the Falcons are 7-0 with shooting marks of .512 overall, .454 from three and .770 at the charity stripe.
Franklin Pierce, 3-11 overall and 1-7 conference, has dropped five in a row since posting an 83-69 win over Caldwell back on Dec. 9. The Ravens have struggled defensively with their opponents averaging 83.1 points while shooting 48 percent overall and 43 percent from three-point land.
Six-seven Sean Trumper has been having a strong junior season with averages of 19.7 points and 8.2 rebounds. His scoring is up more than eight a game over last winter and he's had double-doubles in each of his last three games.
Next on the scoring list is sophomore forward Ugo Nwachukwu, with a 13.0 average and a .561 field goal percentage. Junior forward Ja'Keese Kemp made his season debut Dec. 29 and has totaled 50 points in his first four games as a Raven.
Bentley and Franklin Pierce split the season series a year ago with each protecting their home court. The Falcons prevailed 86-75 on Dec. 31, 2022 with Laput scoring 20, and the Ravens scored the final eight on Feb. 18 to pull out a 77-74 win. Laput finished with 30, a career-high at the time.
Next week's schedule has the Falcons playing at Southern Connecticut State Tuesday and Pace University Saturday. The next home game is January 24 against American International.