WALTHAM, Mass. – With the regular season now in its final third, the division leaders in the Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball are Bentley University in the Northeast and Southern Connecticut State in the Southwest.

Two of the three teams in the NE-10 who own overall winning percentages of at least .800, those two clubs will square off for the only time during the regular season Saturday with the Bentley Falcons hosting the Owls at 3:30 pm. Tip-off at the Dana Center is set for 3:30 pm and a free webcast will be available at www.bentleyfalcons.tv.

Bentley, 15-3 overall, has the NE-10's best conference record at 12-1 but is being chased by both Saint Anselm, a game back at 11-2, and 10-3 Stonehill, who the Falcons will encounter on the road Wednesday, in the Northeast.

Southern Connecticut, 16-4 overall and 11-2 NE-10, is more safely entrenched at the top with a three-game lead over second-place Adelphi. Three of the Owls' four losses have come away from home, including last Saturday at Franklin Pierce.

The NE-10's two most productive duos will be on display as Bentley's Tyler McFarland (Rockport, Maine/Camden Hills HS) and Keegan Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) combine for 41.1 points a game and Southern's Mike Mallory and Desmond Williams team up for 43.5.

Bentley, which will be looking to improve to 7-0 against the Southwest Division, is coming off a 71-65 win over Saint Rose on Wednesday. That game saw Hyland, a grad student, and McFarland, a senior, combine for 48 points, the tenth time this season they've teamed for at least 40.

Hyland, after scoring 31 against the Golden Knights, has  totaled 65 in his last two while shooting 70 percent overall, 79 percent from three and 92 percent at the line. That has upped his season production to 18.9, good for eighth in the NE-10.

McFarland, number three on Bentley's all-time scoring list with 1,840 points, ranks second in the conference in scoring with his 22.2 norm bettered only by Mallory. With his 17 points against Saint Rose, he became the first player in program history with four 400-point seasons.

Senior guard Alex Furness (Wells, Maine/Wells HS), the Falcons' third double-figure scorer at 14.1, is having an outstanding shooting season as he enters January's final game at .533 overall, .505 from three and .889 at the line.

Bentley's school record for points in a game is 40. Mallory and Williams have both reached or exceeded that number this season while helping the Owls put up 91.2 ppg. Mallory had 43 Nov. 24 against American International and Williams is coming off a 40-point effort in a dominating performance in Tuesday's 96-76 win over Assumption (14 rebounds, six assists, four blocks  three steals as well).

Mallory will come into Saturday with a 22.5 average, as well as a conference-best 63 three-pointers. He puts the ball up a lot (19 FGA, 6.2 3-point attempts a game), but also is a distributor with his 94 assists third most in the NE-10.

Williams has done it all for the Owls in Scott Burrell's first season as head coach, averaging 9.3 rebounds (fourth in NE-10), 4.5 assists and 2.3 steals in addition to 21 points.

While Southern tops the NE-10 in scoring, Bentley is number two in both fewest points allowed (69.4) and field goal percentage defense (.420). Coach Jay Lawson's team has gone six straight games in which they haven't allowed more than 65 points and have kept the opposition to a .379 shooting mark in the last nine.