COLCHESTER, Vt. – Freshman forward Tyler McFarland (Rockport, Maine/Camden Hills HS) buried a foul-line jumper with 3.4 seconds in overtime and sophomore guard JP Koury (Red Bank, N.J./ CBA) scored five of his career-high 25 points during the extra session as Bentley University edged by St. Michael's College, 73-72, in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball Wednesday night at the Ross Sports Center.

The victory was the third straight for the Falcons, who improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference, and extended Bentley's string of consecutive overtime wins to ten, dating back to 2006.

 In addition to Koury, McFarland (16 points) and junior guard DJ Guillette (Lunenburg, Mass./ Lunenburg HS) posted career-highs in the scoring department for the Falcons, with the trio combining for 50 ponts. Guillette, who had played only 12 minutes in seven career games before this one, provided a spark off the bench with nine points in 23 minutes.

McFarland, who had missed a couple lay-ups in the final two minutes of regulation with Bentley owning a one-point lead, made the shots he needed to.

With Bentley owning a 64-63 lead, St. Michael's sophomore Dom Ditlefsen (Portland, Ore.) threw in his fourth three of the second half, from well behind the three-point line and barely beating the three-point buzzer, to put his team up 66-64 with 43.8 seconds left. McFarland was fouled about ten seconds later, and sank both ends of the one-and-one to even the score at 66 all with 34.3 seconds left.

The Purple Knights held for the last shot, but a three-point attempt from junior All-Conference guard Mike Holton, Jr. was off the mark and the two teams headed for extras.

St. Michael's took the lead twice in the first 65 minutes of overtime, but each time, Koury answered for the Falcons. His three with 4:22 left evened the game at 69-69, and his drive to the basket with 3:15 put Bentley up 71-70.

It stayed that way until a lay-up from senior forward Derek Knutty (Rocklin, Calif.) put the Knights back in front with 16.3 seconds remaining, 72-71.

McFarland's game-winner came off the ninth assist of the night from junior guard Jasper Grassa (Lynn, Mass./Lynn Classical HS), who kicked it back out from underneath the basket.  St. Michael's had one more chance, but a long two-pointer from sophomore guard Corey Crawford (Dover, Del.) rimmed out.

Bentley, which had trailed by as many as six early before going up 22-18, ran off 12 straight points during a span of 5:40 surrounding intermission to stretch a one-point advantage to a game-high 13, 39-26. Koury had five of the 12, and Grassa connected from three-point land.

Led by the hot shooting of Ditlefson from three and sophomore forward James Cambronne (De Bary, Fla.) inside, St. Michael's came storming back  and tied the game at 54 on a triple from Crawford with 7:32 left. At that point, the Knights were a sizzling 10 of 14 from the field in the second half, with four three-balls.

Sophomore forward Andrew Shaw (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) came up big for Bentley down the stretch in the second half and finished with 10 points. His three from the left wing with 7:12 left broke a 54-all tie, and another trey with four minutes and Bentley down one but the Falcons up 60-58. That began a 7-0 run, which also included a Shaw put-back and a pair of Koury free throws, that made it a six-point game, 64-58, with 2:53 to play.

St. Michael's countered with the next eight points, setting the stage for McFarland's two big free throws to tie.

Koury's line included eight of 12 overall, four of six from three and five of seven free throws. He also provided five rebounds and two steals for the Falcons, who are 3-0 since his insertion into the starting five. McFarland complemented his 16 points with a team-best seven rebounds, and Guillette (two of three from three) also recorded four rebounds and two assists in his first action of the winter.

Cambronne and Ditlefsen led St. Michael's (2-2, 1-2 NE-10) with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Holton struggled through a 2-for-10 shooting night and managed only seven points.

St. Michael's shot better (46-39 percent) and had an overall rebound edge (38-36), but Bentley managed nine more shot attempts due to 14 offensive boards and seven fewer turnovers (10 to SMC's 17). The advantage on the offensive glass produced a plus-12 for Bentley in second-chance points, 19-7.

Bentley is also on the road Saturday, playing a 3:30 pm game at Southern New Hampshire.