WALTHAM, Mass. – Senior gurd JP Koury (Red Bank, N.J./CBA) filled the stat sheet with 18 points, nine rebounds, five steals and three assists, helping the Bentley University men's basketball team to a season-opening 72-63 win over Philadelphia University, the 14th-ranked team in Division II, in the Bentley Tip-Off Classic Friday night at the Dana Center.

The Falcons, who trailed by as many as 13 in the first half and were still down 11 with under 13 minutes to play, outscored the Rams 39-19 the rest of the way, including 21-7 over the final eight minutes to claim the victory.

Down the stretch, the Bentley defense allowed only two field goals, one of which came with 16 seconds left after the outcome had been secured, and forced four turnovers, which led to nine Falcon points.  In sharp contrast, coach Jay Lawson's team only had four turnovers in the entire game.

The Bentley comeback actually began in the final minute of the first half. Junior forward Tyler McFarland (Rockport, Maine/Camden Hills HS) connected on a three with 58 seconds left after the Philly lead had peaked at 13. Seconds before the buzzer sounded to send the teams to the locker room, sophomore guard Ferguson Duke (Dartmouth, N.S./Hun School (N.J.)) came up with a steal under the basket and beat the horn with a lay-up that cut the deficit to a reasonable eight, 35-27.

A 13-2 run that featured a pair of Duke three-pointers evened the game for the first time since early on, 46-46 with 10:17 left. The Rams answered with 10-5 spurt to regain the advantage, 56-51, with 7:20 left.

The next eight points went on the Bentley side of the ledge, the Falcons taking a lead they would not give back. Two free throws by Koury, a drawn charge by McFarland and a McFarland triple from the right wing tied it up at 56 with 6:01 to play. Senior guard Keegan Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) made one of two from the line and a Koury lay-up gave his team a 59-56 advantage with 4:30 remaining.

After Philadelphia senior guard Nick Schlitzer (Pottsville, Pa.) sank his fourth three-pointer of the night to cut the Bentley lead to four, 64-60 with 2:47 left, Falcon junior forward Shaq Phelps (Linden, N.J./Linden HS) ignited a game-clinching 8-0 run with a three of his own. The spurt also included four free throws by McFarland in the final minute.

In the first half, Bentley was very cold from the floor, hitting only 29 percent of its shots (including 0-for-8 at the start) and misfiring on 14 of 17 three-pointers. On the other hand, the visitors shot 56 percent and sank four of six threes.

Shooting was significantly different in the second with the Falcons connecting at a 54 percent clip and making seven of 11 from downtown. Philadelphia was limited to 39 percent, including only 6 of 16 on two-point attempts.

Koury's 18 points was matched by McFarland, and two other Falcons finished in doubles, Hyland (15, along with five rebounds, four assists and two steals) and Duke (10 and four steals off the bench). Schlitzer powered the Rams with 24 points and junior center Peter Alexis (Wilkes Barre, Pa.) had a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double.

Bentley was outrebounded by nine, 40-31, but finished with a dominating 22-2 advantage in points off turns. The Falcons came up with steals on 13 of the Rams' 18 turnovers.

In the other game of the opening night of the tournament, Merrimack dominated the second half, 45-20, for a 71-55 win over Holy Family. Junior guard Gervis Solano led the way, finishing with 22 points, 13 rebounds, six steals and four assists.

The tournament continues on Saturday with Merrimack playing Philadelphia at 6 pm and Bentley looking for a 2-0 start against Holy Family at 8 pm.