WALTHAM, Mass. – After dropping a 92-82 decision at Franklin Pierce University a couple weeks ago, the Bentley University Falcons will look to turn the tables on the Ravens when the two teams meet Sunday afternoon (4 pm) at the Dana Center in the quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 Conference Men's Basketball Championships.

Bentley will enter the postseason one win shy of its first 20-win season since 2011 after recording a 19-7 record and earning the NE-10's Northeast Division championship. The Falcons are the Northeast's number one seed and will host a semifinal game Wednesday night if they advance past Franklin Pierce.

Franklin Pierce, the Northeast's number four seed, earned the right to play on Sunday with a 73-69 first-round win at Le Moyne College Friday night. The Ravens have won their last two games to improve to 16-11 on the season.

This will be the rubber game between the two teams this season with both having won on their home courts. There was no shortage of offense in the two contests with both winning teams putting up 92 points. Bentley prevailed by 15 at the Dana Center back on Dec. 9 while the Ravens evened the series with the ten-point victory Feb. 13.

Bentley, which has won 11 of its 13 home games this season, has averaged 87.6 points on the Dana Center court while shooting 49 percent overall and 40 percent from three.

The Falcons are led by the talented trio of senior forward Tyler McFarland (Rockport, Maine/ Camden Hills HS), graduate student Keegan Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) and senior guard Alex Furness (Wells, Maine/Wells HS), who account for about 58 points a game. McFarland was voted first-team All-Northeast-10 earlier in the week, Hyland was selected All-Conference second team and Furness received honorable mention All-NE-10 recognition.

McFarland, whose 2,030 points is 73 shy of Bill Holden's school record, leads the NE-10 with a 22.7 average, two-tenths better than Southern Connecticut's Mike Mallory. His 23 points in Tuesday's 97-95 victory over Merrimack marked his 18th 20-point game of the season.

Hyland has averaged 26.7 points a game over the last ten, a stretch in which he's shot 51 percent overall and made 48 percent of his three-pointers. That's elevated his season norm to 20.9 and his career average to 17.9, fifth best in Bentley annals.

Furness, who tied his career high with 27 points Tuesday against Merrimack, follows with a 14.3 scoring average. He's one of the conference's most accurate three-point shooters (.487 with a team-best 73 treys) and has knocked down 92 percent of his free throws this season.

In the two regular season meetings with Franklin Pierce, the above three combined for 131 of the Falcons' 174 points. Hyland had 51, McFarland followed with 50 and Furness tallied 30 in the two contests

Junior guard Ferguson Duke (Dartmouth, N.S./Hun School (N.J.)) and sophomore forward Brandon Wheeler (Stamford, Conn./Trinity Catholic HS) round out the usual starting five for Coach Jay Lawson's squad. Duke averages 8.1 points and Wheeler has corralled 36 rebounds in the last five contests.

 Franklin Pierce shot an impressive .609 overall and knocked down six of nine three-pointers Friday night while getting past Le Moyne by four points. Junior guard Matt Banton scored 20 off the bench and guards Donte Gittens and Tyler Iacuone each helped with 14.

Coach David Chadbourne's team will come into the Dana Center with four double-figure scorers, a list headed by Gittens at 14.5 and Banton at 13.9. Banton is fifth in the NE-10 in three-pointers (78) and has been near invincible at the foul line, making 42 of 44. Gittens, a junior who has gotten to the foul line 172 times, was voted third-team All-NE-10. His season has included 5.7 rebounds a game, 123 assists, 50 blocks and 33 steals.

Six-foot-eight Mike McDevitt is also a factor for Franklin Pierce with his average at 12.9 points.

In the other quarterfinal games, Southern New Hampshire is at Southern Connecticut State, Saint Rose is visiting Saint Anselm and Stonehill is on Long Island to take on Adelphi. The semifinals will be Wednesday with the Bentley/FPU winner paired with the Adelphi/Stonehill survivor.

NORTHEAST-10 CHAMPIONSHIPS

First Round ­ Friday, February 26th   
Game 1:  #4 NE So. New Hampshire 88, #5 SW American Int'l 82 
Game 2:  #5 NE Franklin Pierce 73, #4 SW Le Moyne 69

Quarterfinals ­ Sunday, February 28th
Game 3:  #4 NE So. New Hampshire at #1 SW So. Connecticut (4 p.m.)
Game 4:  #5 NE Franklin Pierce at #1 NE Bentley (4 p.m.)
Game 5:  #3 NE Stonehill at #2 SW Adelphi (3 p.m.)
Game 6:  #3 SW Saint Rose at #2 NE Saint Anselm (4 p.m.)

Semifinals ­ Wednesday, March 2nd (at highest seeds remaining)
Game 7: Game 6 winner vs. Game 3 winner (7 p.m.)
Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 4 winner (7 p.m.) 

Championship ­ Saturday, March 5th (at highest seed remaining)
Game 9:  Game 8 winner vs. Game 7 winner (1 p.m.)