WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University men's basketball team will look to close out the regular season on a positive note when it hosts 20-game winner Franklin Pierce University Tuesday night at 7:30 pm at the Dana Center.

Prior to the game, the Falcons' two seniors, Jasper Grassa (Lynn/Lynn Classical HS) and DJ Guillette (Lunenburg/Lunenburg HS), will be recognized for their contributions over the years. Grassa is Bentley's all-time leader in three-pointers (277) and is 24 point away from cracking the top 25 on the all-time scoring list. Guillette, a four-year walk-on, was instrumental in a win at St. Michael's last year, a game in which he registered a number of career bests.

Regardless of Tuesday's outcome, Bentley is locked into a first-round game when the Northeast-10 Championships get underway Friday night. If the Falcons can knock off the Ravens and Assumption College pulls the upset at Southern New Hampshire, Bentley would be the fourth seed and would host the fifth seed in the Southwest, either American International or Pace. Otherwise, they'll be the fifth seed and will play at The College of Saint Rose.

Bentley, 16-10 overall and 10-10 conference, will be making its fourth attempt at picking up its 17th win of the season. Defending the three has been an issue of late with the opponents connecting at a 49 percent success rate from downtown during the last four contests. Last week against the Falcons, Southern New Hampshire made 10 of 15 threes on Wednesday and Stonehill buried 14 on Saturday, most against Bentley in more than three years.

The Falcons have five double-figure scorers, a list headed by sophomore forward Tyler McFarland (Rockport, Maine/Camden Hills HS). He's come up below his average in the last three games, but still remains seventh in the NE-10 at 18.1 per game. McFarland, who also averages seven rebounds, is second in the conference in both three-point accuracy (.482, including 30 of 55 at home) and free throw shooting (.875).

Grassa follows at 14.2 points per game and junior guard Keegan Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) is up to 11.2. Over the last six, his production has included 15 points and 5.7 rebounds a game.

Also averaging in doubles are sophomore guard Alex Furness (Wells, Maine/Wells HS) and junior forward Andrew Shaw (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy), at 10.4 and 10.0, respectively. Furness shoots 53 percent overall while Shaw is second on the team in threes (48). He's also made 56 percent of his attempts from inside the arc.

Franklin Pierce, 20-5 overall, will come into the Dana Center locked into the second seed in the upcoming conference championships. The Ravens were 11-1 during the 2013 portion of the schedule and have been 9-4 since, including a pair of home losses in which they yielded 106 to both Southern Connecticut and St. Michael's.

Senior forward Ellis Cooper and junior forward Ryen Vilmont are one of the premier scoring duos in the conference, averaging 18.5 and 16.3 respectively. Cooper is fifth in the NE-10 in scoring and also ranks in the top five in rebounds, steals, free throws and field goal percentage. Vilmont is one of two NE-10 players who shoots at least 48 percent from three while sinking at least three from downtown per game.

Cooper is one of seven seniors for the Ravens, a group that also includes six-foot-eight Adrianos Vourliotakis Perdikaris, who averages about 11 points and seven rebounds. Guard Donte Gittens has had an impressive freshman season, one that has seen him record 43 blocks and 32 steals in addition to averaging 9.7 points and 4.3 assists.

In the first meeting between the two teams, Franklin Pierce shot 51 percent and buried 13 three-pointers en route to a 93-84 win up in Rindge. McFarland (24) and Grassa (18) combined for 42 points for Bentley, which had five players score in doubles.