WALTHAM, Mass. – Concordia College (N.Y.) will provide the opposition when the Bentley University men's basketball team opens its season Friday night as part of the annual Tip-Off Classic at the Dana Center. The opening tip is scheduled for 8 pm with a free webcast available at www.bentleyfalcons.tv.

Bentley, hosting the tournament for the sixth straight year, will be attempting to claim an opening game victory for the fifth consecutive season. Jay Lawson, who is beginning his 25th season as the Falcons' head coach, has 12 players back from last year's 15-12 team while Concordia returns ten from an 11-17 club.

The Bentley-Concordia encounter will be the second of four games at the Dana Center this weekend and will follow a 6 pm game between Merrimack College and Caldwell College. Merrimack, coached by Bentley Athletic Hall of Famer Bert Hammel, has won 13 consecutive games in the opening tournament, dating back to 2002.

On Saturday, the two Northeast-10 teams will trade opponents with Merrimack facing Concordia at 6 pm and Bentley taking on Caldwell at 8 pm.

Bentley, after a strong effort in an exhibition loss at Boston College last week, will be looking extend an opening day streak that began with a win over Felician in 2011 and has continued with victories over Caldwell, Concordia and last year, Philadelphia.

Bentley features 2015 All-Northeast-10 honorees Tyler McFarland (Rockport, Maine/Camden Hills HS) and Keegan Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS), two of the three highest returning scorers in the conference. McFarland scored a career-high 19.1 points a game last year when he led the team in both scoring and rebounds for an unprecedented third straight year, and Hyland was right behind him at 19.0.

Six-foot-six senior Alex Furness (Wells, Maine/Wells HS), who has averaged nearly ten points and four assists over the last two seasons, will shift from the point to the wing. He had a hot hand in the BC exhibition, scoring 19 on 6-of-7 shooting with four triples.

Junior guard Ferguson Duke (Dartmouth, N.S./Hun School, N.J.), who made eight starts during the first half of last season (most while Furness was out), and freshman forward Kyle Bouchard (Houlton, Maine/Houlton HS) completed Lawson's starting unit at BC. Forward Shakir Phelps (Linden, N.J./Linden HS), a starter in the last 20 a year ago, will begin his senior season on the sidelines due to a preseason knee injury.

Concordia won't be an easy test as the Clippers have four double-figure scorers returning, including senior forward Peter Aguilar, and have added AJ Burton, who averaged 11.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists two years ago at Dominican.

Caldwell, 15-13 last year, used an all-senior starting lineup in exhibition losses to Notre Dame and DePaul. Dawan Lighty scored 15 a game last year while shooting an impressive 47 percent from three, and nearly matched that with 14 per game in the two exhibitions.

Merrimack, who the Falcons will see Wednesday night on the road in the conference opener, features a talented trio of guards, including preseason All-America Gelvis Solano. He scored over 23 a game last year and also provided about six rebounds, four assists and three steals a game.

The major rule change in men's basketball this year is the reduction in the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30.