MANCHESTER, N.H. – Saint College junior guard Tim Guers (Langhorne, Pa.), the conference Player of the Year, outdueled Bentley University's Ryan Richmond (Toronto, Ont./Thomson Collegiate) and his team went on to post an 87-80 win over the Falcons in the semifinals of the Northeast-10 Men's Basketball semifinals Wednesday night at Stoutenburgh Gym.

Guers came within one rebound and one assist of a triple-double while finishing with 36 points on 13-of-22 shooting.

Richmond, 14 of 24 overall, powered the Falcons with 35 points, along with three rebounds and three assists. He finished the season with a 23.6 scoring average, breaking the Bentley single season record of 22.8 that Ray Andersen has held since 1969.

Saint Anselm, the top seed out of the Northeast Division, improved to 22-7 and will advance to Saturday's conference championship game at Le Moyne College. Bentley saw its season-best four-game winning streak halted with the Falcons finishing the year at 16-12.

It was a game that the Hawks frequently open 11 or 12 point leads, only to see the Falcons battle back to stay within reach.

An early 10-0 Hawk run put Saint Anselm a 14-6 with 13:23 to play after Bentley scored six of the game's first ten points. Senior guard Taylor Fortin (Tolland, Conn.) led the Hawks during that early run, scoring seven of the ten.

Later in the first half, Bentley ran off nine unanswered, the final seven by Richmond, to claw within one, 36-35 with two minutes left. Saint Anselm responded by scoring the final six of the half and Bentley went into intermission down 41-35 after being hampered by fouls.

Saint Anselm outshot the Falcons 52-44 percent during the opening 20 minutes and enjoyed a 10-1 advantage in free throw attempts with the Hawks making seven of those. Richmond and Guers both went into the break with 18 points apiece.

Bentley made it a two-possession game seven times in the second half, coming as close as four twice. Richmond sank an 18-footer to open the scoring after intermission and junior Zach Gilpin (Hampden, Maine/Hampden Academy) capped an 8-2 spurt with a free throw to bring the Falcons within four, 77-73, with 4:35 to play.

Just as was the case so often during the contest, Saint Anselm had an answer. This time it was a three from freshman forward Gustav Suhr-Jessen (Virum, Denmark) and a lay-up by Guers off an inbound play.

Richmond's final point of an outstanding season, a free throw with 34.8 seconds, kept Bentley's hopes alive, 84-78. However, Fortin made three from the stripe in the final 30.1 to lock up the victory.

For Bentley, Richmond was followed in the scoring column by sophomore forward Chris Hudson (Hodgdon, Maine/Northampton Williston School) and senior forward Brandon Wheeler (Stamford, Conn./Trinity Catholic HS) with 13 and ten points, respectively. Wheeler, in his final collegiate game, also provided seven rebounds and three steals.

Fortin had a big game for Saint Anselm, finishing with 23 points and nine assists.

Twice as many three-pointers (10-5) and a 41-30 advantage in rebounds favored Saint Anselm while Bentley took exceptional care of the ball with only six turns. The home team outshot the Falcons overall, 51-48 percent.