WALTHAM, Mass. – Following a 77-76 win over St. Michael's College on Saturday that saw seven Falcons combine for 17 three-pointers, the Bentley University men's basketball team will be back at it Wednesday evening when it looks to cool off Southern New Hampshire University in the final home game of the regular season. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.

Five teams qualify out of the Northeast Division for the Northeast-10 Conference championship tournament and Bentley (15-9, 10-8 NE-10) currently holds that last spot with a one-game lead over Franklin Pierce, who the Falcons will close out the schedule against on Feb. 24.

Before that encounter, both teams have to play Stonehill (FPU at home Wednesday, Bentley on the road Saturday) and the Ravens also have a Saturday contest at Merrimack. Stonehill is tied for third place and Merrimack is in seventh, two games back of the Falcons.

Southern New Hampshire, which has won 10 of its last 11, is on the brink of clinching the Northeast title with the Penmen owning a two-game lead on second-place Saint Anselm.

Wednesday's meeting will be the second of the year between the two clubs with the first having gone in SNHU's direction back in late November. The Penmen outshot the Falcons, 47-38 percent, and also controlled the boards, 43-32, while placing four of five starters in double figures. Bentley struggled from deep, hitting only 7 of 23 long-distance shots.

In Saturday's victory over St. Michael's, the Falcons began a game-ending 16-5 run by scoring 13 unanswered. Senior guard Keegan Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) was instrumental in the comeback, scoring half of the 16, including a pair of three-pointers. The first launched the spurt with 6:33 to play and the second closed the Falcon scoring with 1:50 showing.

Hyland finished with 19 points, just exceeding his season norm of 18.7, the sixth highest mark in the NE-10. He also had eight rebounds, the seventh straight game he's collected at least seven, and ran his streak of games with at least one three-pointer to 18.

One of the three conference players who has higher scoring and rebound averages than Hyland is teammate Tyler McFarland (Rockport, Maine/Camden Hills HS), a junior forward who has moved into 19th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,392 points. The only Falcon with a higher total prior to his senior year is Billy Holden (1997-2000), who finished his junior year with 1,523 and went on to score a school record 2,103.

McFarland leads the Falcons with 19.5 points per game and has become just the third player in program history to have a 50-block season, joining Alexander Hall (1993) and Todd Orlando (1983, 1984).

Junior guard Alex Furness (Wells, Maine/Wells HS), who missed the earlier game with SNHU due to injury, is just shy of a double-figure scoring average at 9.9 after scoring 18 in the St. Michael's game. He's averaged 11.8 points over the last ten games and is one of three Falcon starters shooting at least .500 from the floor.

SNHU (17-6, 14-4 NE-10) features the offensive tandem of junior wing Rodney Sanders and six-foot-six senior Elijah Bonsignore, who average 18 and 16.3 points, respectively. Sanders also fills the stat sheet with 5.1 rebounds, nearly three assists and 1.6 steals a game and leads the Penmen in three-pointers (48), free throws (77) and three-point accuracy (.407).

Bonsignore, who shares the NE-10 lead in blocks with McFarland, has made 66 percent of his two point attempts and has also connected 30 times from outside the arc. On a team that has five players averaging at least five rebounds, he tops the list at 6.5 a game.

Defense has been a forte of SNHU with the Penmen leading the NE-10 in field goal percentage defense (.397) as well as second in fewest points allowed (65.5) and third in defending the three (.324). Over the last two games, SNHU has limited Stonehill and St. Thomas Aquinas to 41 and 43 points, respectively.