WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University men's basketball team, after coming up short at Franklin Pierce on Saturday, will resume its bid to win the Northeast Division of the Northeast-10 Conference when it hosts St. Michael's College Wednesday night at the Dana Center.

Tip-off for the late-season match-up is set for 7:30 pm with a free webcast available at www.bentleyfalcons.tv.

Bentley (17-6, 14-4 NE-10) went into the Franklin Pierce game with a one-game lead in the Northeast and it remained that way despite the loss as Saint Anselm also came up short, falling to St. Michael's on the road.

Those two losses, coupled with wins by Stonehill and Southern New Hampshire, tightened the standings in the division. With the regular season schedule down to its final three games, Stonehill is tied with Saint Anselm for second and SNHU is just two back.

Bentley will need a win against St. Michael's to maintain its one-game lead as Wednesday's schedule also includes Stonehill at Saint Anselm. The Hawks will also be at home on Saturday with the Falcons making the trip to Manchester for a 3:30 contest.

St. Michael's will come into the Dana Center looking to string together consecutive wins for the first time this season after improving to 6-17 overall (4-14 NE-10). The 84-75 victory over Saint Anselm gave the Purple Knights a 3-3 record in their last six games, including an overtime road win against Merrimack.

Bentley returns to the Dana Center for its first home game in 11 days with two of the top four scorers in the Northeast-10, both of whom are candidates for the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America® team. Senior forward Tyler McFarland (Rockport, Maine/Camden Hills HS) is averaging an East Region-best 23.4 points and grad student Keegan Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland, Maine/ South Portland HS), a first-team Academic All-America last year, is fourth in the NE-10 at 20.5.

McFarland, 22 points away from joining Bill Holden '90 and Jason Westrol '10 in Bentley's 2,000-point club, has totaled 138 points in the last five games. Hyland, whose 7.8 rebound average is three-tenths better than McFarland, has scored 30-plus in four of the last seven games, a span in which he's produced 28 per contest.

Bentley's third double-figure scorer, senior guard Alex Furness (Wells, Maine/Wells HS), owns the fifth  best three-point percentage in the NE-10, .488. He's been particularly effective from deep at home, shooting .569 while averaging 15.4 points. Furness is 29 points away from 1,000 for his career.

Sophomore forward Brandon Wheeler (Stamford, Conn./Trinity Catholic HS) has been solid on the boards for Bentley the last month, averaging nearly seven a game over that span. Junior guard Ferguson Duke (Dartmouth, N.S./Hun School (N.J.)) is coming off an eight-point performance at Franklin Pierce, his best in three games back after he missed the previous seven.

St. Michael's features junior forward Matt Bonds, the number two rebounder nationally in Division II with a 12.0 average. He's number one in the NE-10 on both boards, collecting 4.2 a game at the offensive end and 7.8 defensive. Bonds, who also leads the Purple Knights in scoring (16.0), is tied for second nationally in double-doubles with 16, including one in the earlier Bentley game, a 76-53 Falcon victory.

St. Michael's has three other players scoring in double figures with freshman guard Levi Holmes III, senior forward Morrell Gaskins and senior guard Greg Grippo all just over 11 a game. Grippo and Holmes III are the team's top threats from long distance with 51 and 45 threes, respectively.

When the two teams met up in Vermont Dec. 12, McFarland, Hyland and Furness had one of their four games this season in which all three scored at least 20.  The Falcons used a 27-10 second-half run and a 12-5 advantage in three-pointers to take that one.